tavis: good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. in the age of facebook and smart phones, the ability to connect with others has never been easier but what does it mean for our society when more and more people are replacing human interaction with technology. that is the question put forth in the book "alone together" by sherry turkle. also tonight, anthony mackie is here. the new orleans native has two film projects out including "the judgment bureau." that's coming up right now. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference,

>> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer. nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and the economic empowerment that comes with it. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to pbs station from viewers your like you. thank you. kcet public television] >> sherry turkle is founder to have m.i.t. initiative on technology and self. her new book is called "alone together." why we expect more from technology and less from each

other. she joins us tonight from boston. professor turkle, good to have you on this program. >> my pleasure. tavis: what do you mean? >> i mean we turn toward devices. we turn toward devices. we text with our devices but what we want back is a quick text. we don't necessarily want to speak with each other. we don't want really a close connection. we want something quick from each other and we can get more involved with the device and what it offers, this sense of close connections than really connecting with each other. sometimes we're so busy communicating, we don't have time to really connect with the people who matter. tavis: tell me why then, i hear the point you're making but tell me why for you that represents, the book talking about a crisis of humanity at the dawn of this digital age? >> well, because i think we have come to a point where we have

had some experience with this technology. we have had a few years. i spents 15 years studying this development. i didn't want to study it early. i wanted to see how it unfolded. i think we're at a point that we're so busy communicating we don't have time to think and so busy communicating we often don't have time to create. so busy communicating we don't have to connect with the people who matter. at dinner, we text. families text at the dinner table. they text at breakfast. i study kids in the park with their parents. the parents are pushing swing with one hand and texting with another. i study mothers who are breast-feeding and texting. we're sort of falling in lover with the technology and forgetting what we know about people and the relationship. >> the long-term consequence and implication s of that reality are what? >> a couple of things.

first of all i'm finding among teenagers there is a new kind of psychology, which i call, i share, therefore i am. they move from a situation where they go, i have a feeling. i want to make a call to i want to have a feeling. i need to send a text. in other words, the very act of having the feeling becomes involved in texting it. and that can become a bad thing because, you know, people need to be able to contain themselves and know what their feelings are and not need other people even to know what you're thinking or feeling. there is a very great thought and psychology that says if you don't teach your children to be alone, they will only know how to be lonely. and in a way we're forgetting how to be alone. we're forgetting how to have the kind of solitude that refreshes

and restores and worry about young people that way. i worry about that. tavis: back to your earlier formulation. essentially, i text, therefore i am. i facebook therefore i am. talk to me then about how technology, especially for young people, but increasingly for those of us who are chronologically gifted but especially for these young folks tell me how our identity these days is connecting to this technology? >> people become confused between what their facebook profile is and who they are. for young people, what their status is on face boork, what their profile is on facebook, becomes really the performance of their identity. people say look, young people have always performed their identity. that is not so new. the difference is the rule that this facebook profile has taken

and really people's sense of their essence and the way they are looked at by other kids and also it is a 24/7 thing. people are going to sleep with their phones. so people say they know when their phones are ringing even when their phones are not around it has so much become a kind of phantom limb. there is a sense that your phone is part of you. you get anxious when your phone isn't with you. you -- and it can become, so anxious about his performance of self sometimes they feel they need to take a break from that performance of identity on facebook. and i think that confusion of, you know, are you what you perform on line or are you somebody else? it is something particularly adolescents have a hard time

with. tavis: i was featured -- i'm raising to this to make a point. i was featured a couple of months ago in a "businessweek" story. on the cover of the magazine, it has a funny headline. it said what do warren buffett and tavis smiley have in common? the answer, absolutely nothing except the fact that neither one of them uses a cell phone. it is true that i do not own a cell phone. i used to own a cell phone and know the pressure that one feels from his family, friends, co-workers and colleagues when he decides he is no longer going to use a cell phone for whatever reason. i raise that to ask, even if you wanted to check out in this era and age, how do you just check out when everybody else is doing it? >> well, i think that is a problem because people talk about addiction and i don't like the metaphor of addiction because if you say you're addicted, this is a problem, there is only one thing you can do, which is to get rid of it and i don't think we really have that option anymore.

i'll talk to you later about what you're doing. you essentially, you need an email account to be in college. that is really how your professors get to you and that's how you get your homework. tavis: right. >> you need to have an email account. i think it is much more healthy to think of this more the way you think about food. you don't have the option of not eating. you have to think about a healthy diet. you have to think about how you're going to deal with food. that's a point for us. how we're going to live a healthy life with this technology. we don't have to interrupt our friends at a meal to check who is -- what stranger has -- tavis: but you never -- you know what the response is, the response given quite frankly most often by parents. this is the excuse that parents, adults give and young folks have given the same excuse. it might be an emergency. i have to check because it might be an emergency. >> you know, this question of emergencies, i really looked into that.

if i'm out to dinner with my colleagues -- i'm a professor and i'm out to dinner with other professors. i say are we going to have some system logical merge emergencies here? what kind of emergencies are we talking about? you know, people know when they have a child in the hospital. people know when there is someone ill in the family. we have created a sense of emergency, that these phones are for emergencies. our children are living lives of constant interruption. i interview kids. they tell me, they come out of school. they are looking for that moment of eye contact with their parents and the mother, let's just take the mother is sitting there on her blackberry or on her iphone texting and the child, many of the children i interview actually, their families are divorced and their parents are divorced and the child comes out looking for that eye contact with the mother and the mother is texting or a child is, you know, fathers and sons

used to watch football on sunday and the father would, you know, in between plays or during commercials they would chat and now father is sitting there doing stuff on his blackberry. these sons miss their dads. they miss their dads. tavis: so beyond the excuse, i think that many of us give that there may be an emergency jumping off, for those of us who are in the business world, the common refrain, as you well know is that it may be the office. i raise that because it is true that we live in ever more competitive world. if there is a particular person who is trying to get to me who may want to offer me an exclusive and i don't have a phone or i don't check the phone and they don't hear from me and that exclusive goes to barbara walters or charlie rose or katie couric or somebody.

the point i'm making is people feel if they don't have access immediately, they are going to miss out on an opportunity at work or someplace else. >> i'm just saying we have taken this to an extreme where at any moment we feel that we can sort of bail out on the people we're with, on the work situation we're at, you know, during faculty meetings, during classes, during dinner with friends, during, during, during, and go to someplace else. and we have to find a balance so this that we can live really a more fulfilling life with this technology. so i want to have your exclusive. i want people to know when they have gotten into college, to know when, you know, something wonderful has happened. i'm not suggesting to unplug. but you know, i study, you know people texting at funerals.

people texting during a jewish rite when you visit the family of people who have lost a parent. something is amiss. tavis: right. >> but i certainly think you're right. that we're not about to, you know, throw it over and we'll get better at -- at finding a balance. but we're not going to give it up. tavis: i'm glad you said that. it is like everything else in life. it is about balance and moderation. sherry turkle's book "alone together," why we expect more from technology and less from each other. thanks for the chance to talk to you about it. >> thank you. my pleasure. tavis: up next, actor anthony mackie. stay with us. anthony mackie is a talented actor who has two film projects

out this month. one is the independent film "desert flower" which opens march 18 and starting this weekend you can see him opposite matt damon in "the adjustment bureau." here is a scene. >> the entire world is turned upside down and you're thinking about a woman. even if you could remember the number, you'll never get through. lost cell phone. changed numbers. whatever creates the fewest ripples. my name is harry, by the way. fewest ripples. we froze my -- need special authorization. >> we poke around people's brains. >> be quiet. >> can i get you something? >> just some water, please. we can't talk here. meet me on the 4:00 p.m. boat and i'll answer what i can. tavis: there is a whole lot going on in this one.

i'm going the threat you explain "the adjustment bureau". >> basically, you know, it deals with a group of guys who are messingers of fate. we go around and help people stay on their fate of course. we can't affect their free will but we can put obstacles in their way to help them make the right choices, to reach their fated destiny. tavis: matt damon is a congressman with a bright future? >> he is on the right path. on the fast track. he is our chosen one. he is our golden boy and being a member of the adjustment bureau, the task was given to me to watch out for him and make sure he doesn't get confused about what his ultimate goal is. i'm a messinger. -- men enger. [laughter] tavis: you got to protect the guy.

>> there you go. tavis: i was saying to my producer. the last time you were on this program a couple of years ago, i remember introducing you saying you can catch this brother now in two films now and now you're back again. you can catch this brother in two films. actually three. someone still out. what is your problem? >> it is my work release program. all kind s of stuff going on. tavis: do you like working that much? >> i love what i do. i do it because i love it. i've had the opportunity to work on some great possibilities. i feel like there are a lot of things out there that i haven't been able to do. it seems like at every step of my career, those opportunities continue to present themselves to me. i feel like success is -- opportunity plus preparation. so, you know, work begets work.

as long as you're prepared. tavis: put the human illity aside. when you walked on the is tet, the lyrics of "return of the man." we have the return of the man. i very easily could have said, this is the year of the -- everywhere i look. whether it is ebony or essence or this week's people. the cover of "vanity fair." i mean seriously. what has happened since i saw you last that is making all of this stuff work for you? >> "the hurt locker" blew up. a lot of people may gripe about me not being nominated for best supporting actor. in a way i was. if you're on a team and one person is nominated, everybody wins. when "the hurt locker" caught fire, my team was very specific about what we wanted to do and

how wepted to use that opportunity. -- we wanted to use that opportunity. i was doing "shakespeare in the park" and "adjustment bureau" came my way. it was like to perfect storm. it was a cacophony of events. slow burns and slow burns to where we are today. tavis: as a human being, i like that phrase that you were on the team. you happen to be a person of color. katherine big low, the first woman to win the academy award for best director. >> it was huge. if you look at us at the oscars, the celebration started there. you know what i mean? it was monumental simply because my background with my family, you know, i have three sisters. you know, i have a mother. i have nieces that i love dearly. i feel like we're at a point where as a people one cannot be

held back by their sex or race or anything for that matter. it is cool to say that i was a part of that. for people to look back and say oh, well, when katherine won the oscar, who was in her cast? boom, boom, boom. to be on that list, it is a huge testament to the work i've been trying to do. tavis: we'll put this up on the screen. anthony and i are boys who have known each other for years but he said something in print the other day that made me look and stop and say did anthony say that? i sf you did, i want you to explain to me what you meant by this comment. "i think right now, blacks are being kind of lazy on our game. my thoughts on the oskars with no blacks nominated, we just

need to make more films. we should be making our own movies. to be honest, i think the barriers have been broken down oprah got her own network. jordan owns a franchise. we have money. there is no reason not to portray ourselves the way we want to be portrayed. >> i said we are lazy on our game. i would never limit myself with the term as black. tavis: you said we're lazy on our game? >> we need to be making movies. i mean, if you look at from 1989-1997. even 1989-2004, we had an explosion of black films. first started with the crack epidemic. the boys in the hood. the middle class educated black person felt neglected and they wanted their story to be told. we got over morris chestnut and

vivica fox. so from that, we have two aspects of black culture but now we're lost because we don't know what that in between is. we have more black people graduating from college than ever before. we have a black president. we're no longer gang banging drug dealers, so what are we? if we don't tell those stories then we can't expect someone else to tell them for us. we have an amazing number of directors. look at all the direct thoors came out of those movies. where are the hughs brothers? john singleton. what is spike doing? who is writing those stories where are the black writers? the biggest actor in the world is a black dude. tavis: big willie? does that mean that we are lazy on our game or that 10 years

after halle and denzel win the oscar and mr. poitier wins a lifetime achievement. three black folks on the stage at the same time. the "new york times" points out there ain't nothing really happening since then in terms of opening up the game. is that us being lazy on our game or the business of hollywood still not opening up given that moment and even with a black president, the numbers are clear. it is easier to be the president of the united states. it is easier this year for a black man to be president of the united states than it is to get on stage at the academy awards. >> let's keep it real. the most important word you used in this that sentence is business. we cannot show up with a script that has a $20 million budget and denzel ain't in it. the studio ain't going to get that money back. that is bad business but at the end of the day, we can make

independent films. tavis: you done that? >> yeah. if you look at somebody like seth roguean and most of the young people in the business now, look at matt damon. what they did with quoot good will hunting." there is no reason they should be able to get a script and robin williams and for the price point and win an academy award. my thing is this. let's be smart about our business. we can definitely make a $2 million dollar movie or a $45 million dollar movie. you can't look -- or a $5 million dollar movie. you can't say i want to make all of my money now. i'll do "half nelson" for $35 a day because i know in the long runhat is going to pay off and i know that is a movie that needs to be made. i know desert flower is a story that needs to be told. tavis: those are real numbers?

>> those are real numbers, dude. that's why i feel like we're being lazy and greedy. if we don't make those movies and tell our stories, we cannot expect someone to tell those stories for us. tavis: although he got some credit for doing colored girls, a lot of criticism has been leveled at tyler perry, more making movies, the stories that he is telling turn a lot of people off. how much of this problem has to do with us maybe not being lazy on our game but maybe not trying to tell the right stories. but showing the complexity of our stories. >> it is the yin and yang. those first bunch of movies made he made for nothing g nothing and they made buckets of money. it might take denzel doing a small movie with two unknown actors so we can thank that little bit of money from that

small movie and make more movies. you know? that's now business works. you make one movie to make five movies. tavis: is it hollywood -- is it us being lazy? we talked about that. is it the kind of films we're making and finally is it black people? sometimes when these movies come out we got no support. >> exactly. this is what i love. i moved back to new orleans and i realized something that was amazing. we don't go to the movies. i have a friend who has bootleg collection and a d.v.d. collection. he goes barbershop and buys a bootleg and if it likes it he will wait until the d.v.d. comes out and watch it at home on his couch. i'm not saying black people are being lazy. i'm saying we're being lazy in the game. until we start neglecting ourselfs in the game, we will continue to try to find a way to own up to the lack of academy

award nominations. tavis: the brother can go deep. >> i'm just saying. i'm just saying. tavis: that's why this year is the year of the mac. that's why we have the return of the mac. the movie that he is in with matt damon is called "the adjustment bureau." he got two or three things out there. just google anthony mackie. you'll see all the stuff he is doing. take care of yourself. that's our show for tonight. thanks for tuning in. until next time, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. joinmy me next time with best selling author susan jacoby on how american deals with a booming aging population. that's next time. see you then. >> all i know is his name is

james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance working with tavis to help improve financial literacy one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.