It is difficult for me to say how the spread of technology has affected my "every day face to face interaction," due to the fact that I almost have trouble remembering the alternative. If I absolutely had to say whether or not it did, I would say that it has, but in a positive way. With the plethora of communication technologies available to us, we are able to be more connected with our friends than ever before.Having said that, I cannot deny that the depth of the connection is rather shallow. In fact, text and Facebook messages are just about the most shallow forms of communication possible. These mediums of speech almost completely eliminate nonverbal communication, which is more important than one would think.
It is for this reason that I am wary of people using online sources to meet one another. Not only does it make the introduction incredibly shallow, but due to the anonymous nature of the web, one can never be sure to whom they are really speaking. I suppose that introductions aren't exactly the most deep and meaningful aspects of meeting a new person, so part of my concern may be unjust.
While I have some issues with the meeting of new people over the internet, I am much more sympathetic to those who maintain relationships over the web medium. In these instances, one already knows the person to whom they are talking, so the anonymity becomes less of an issue. It still is not a very deep way to keep connected with people, and it really should not be one's sole means of doing such.
Society ought to work harder to restore to some extent real person to person relationships. For me at least, they offer much more satisfaction than staring at a wall of text that your friend has sent you.
