Are Social Networks Actually Anti-Social?

Image from source, NY Times

I can only answer this question for myself, and in that regard I have to say no.  Aside from being something of a time-sucker, Facebook (and Twitter, for me to a much lesser degree) has let me reconnect with people I haven't talked to in years. It allows me to give a quick hello or how-do-you-do to people I probably would not have taken the time to call.  It lets me keep tabs without having to spend an hour on the phone--and I don't like to talk on the phone much.

I know, that kind of sounds anti-social, doesn't it? But I was already that way, I guess.  Also, I reconnected with a friend from high school who--while I sat next to her for four years in the 80s--wasn't one of my "inner circle" back then. But we've been chatting for a year or so now, several times a week.  That never would have happened without Facebook.  So, my verdict is, it depends on how you use them.

[Excerpt]

Antisocial Networking?

Children used to actually talk to their friends. Those hours spent on the family princess phone or hanging out with pals in the neighborhood after school vanished long ago. But now, even chatting on cellphones or via e-mail (through which you can at least converse in paragraphs) is passé. For today’s teenagers and preteens, the give and take of friendship seems to be conducted increasingly in the abbreviated snatches of cellphone texts and instant messages, or through the very public forum of Facebook walls and MySpace bulletins. . .

Read more at: New York Times