Turkle cites as examples the "digital creatures," such as the robot dog AIBO and My Real Baby, intended to provide company for children and the elderly; and the popularity of Chatroulette, in which people are objectified and then, seconds later, dismissed. "With sociable robots, we imagine objects as people," she writes. "Online, we invent ways of being with people that turn them into something close to objects."
Why are we doing this? "These days, insecure in our relationships and anxious about intimacy, we look to technology for ways to be in relationships and protect ourselves from them at the same time," Turkle says. "Digital connections and the sociable robot may offer the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship."