If we're not able to be alone, we're going to be more lonely. And if we don't teach our children to be alone, they're only going to know how to be lonely.

Source: "Connected, but Alone." TED2012. Feb. 2012. Conference Presentation. Additional Information: This quote is from technology researcher Sherry Turkle's 2012 TED Talk on how technology is shaping our relationships. The quote means that if we think of solitude as a problem that needs to be solved, we are going to feel lonely whenever we're alone, and we will lose the valuable capacity for solitude and self-reflection (and our children will never develop this capacity in the first place). According to Turkle, we turn to technology to help us feel that we will never have to be alone. We need to resist this fantasy, says Turkle, and embrace solitude if we want to have authentic relationships with others and ourselves. Watch the full TED Talk here: Sherry Turkle - Connected, but Alone?