I finished Second Self this morning. Here’s my initial thought: my mantra when working with teachers has become that the computer is “just” a tool for learning. According to Turkle, it is much more than that: it’s a tool that supports your identity and indeed changes it. And since she was writing more than two decades ago, how has that increased? About ten-fold, I would guess.

Am I different because of my relationship with my computer? It has brought out a more technical side of me although I am definitely a “soft” programmer. Mostly, my computer is an extension of me. I understand the feeling that several of her informants described of not really typing, as though ideas are moving from the brain to the computer.

Right now, I have a brand new Mac ProBook sitting on the desk next to me. It wouldn’t be too hard to switch over to it especially since so much of my life isn’t just digital but also online, available no matter computer is in my hands. But I’ve had this laptop for two years now and it is definitely geared to my learning and working style. I go very few places without it, and I store text, photos, movies, and music on it. It’s where I go to interact with people. It’s where I go to relax. It’s going to take time to set up the new computer so it can work the way I do and in the middle of a semester, that’s not going to happen. Do I think of my computer as a person? Not really, but it’s definitely a partner.