Unlike Reggie I agree with Deresiewicz. I agree that facebook can be used as a way to keep in touch with friends and family much more effectively than email or phone calls. The internet has afforded users the opportunity to stay well informed on local happenings with an alarming immediacy. I disagree that the article is discussing a "problem that does not exist" because the focus of the article as I interpret it is that the way we communicate and relate to one another is changing. The availability of information on social networking sites is such that it's no longer necessary to exchange news with one another in the traditional sense. The same general information that I can get over a phone conversation can be done while at work through twitter feeds and status updates.
Deresiewicz is not condemning social networks, but restating an argument that is fairly prevalent amongst those who remember a time when gossip was not stirred by a post saying "I don't want to talk..." or "sigh", but through direct information. The argument is not that people no longer have intimate relationships but that the way we relate to those whom we are only casually acquainted with is changing.
Chris Greene
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