Sherry Turkle on the difference between connection and conversation

Americans have become so reliant on phones and digital devices that connection has taken the place of real conversation. What's been lost in the process?

In the 1870s Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone— a device designed to enable communication between two people who couldn't be face to face.

What a long way we've come since then.

Our phones can now be used for so many things— to listen to music, watch movies, watch movies, and, of course, we still use them to communicate with each other too.

A study released earlier this year by a Seattle-based research group found that Americans spend, on average, 4.7 hours a day on our phones. Another survey released by AT&T and the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction found 61 percent of Americans sleep with their phones and 53 percent get upset when we're without our phones.

All this is deeply worrisome to Sherry Turkle, who's been studying the relationship between people and computers for decades. Turkle is a professor at MIT and author of the new book "Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age."

To hear the full interview with Sherry Turkle, click the link above.