Here’s a familiar situation: You’re talking with someone face-to-face, when suddenly that person whips out their phone for a quickie glance — or more. Could be a text, or a tweet, or some kind of alert. Either way, their focus is now off the conversation. The digital world has taken a bite out of the real one. But is it just an annoyance, a blip that’s part of modern life? Or is it fundamentally changing the way we talk and the way we share ideas? Sherry Turkle spends her time thinking about these big questions. The sociologist, psychologist, and MIT professor has written a number of books that deal with how the digital age is affecting our lives. Her latest is Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.