Facebook: "Every Man is an Island"

John Donne gave voice to the idea that mankind doesn't thrive in isolation when he coined the phrase "No man is an island, entire of himself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main."  It would seem that social networking and social media serve to connect us and to bind us together more completely, but a recent article, "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely", in Atlantic Magazine argues the opposite.

Here is an excerpt:

"Our omnipresent new technologies lure us toward increasingly superficial connections at exactly the same moment that they make avoiding the mess of human interaction easy. The beauty of Facebook, the source of its power, is that it enables us to be social while sparing us the embarrassing reality of society—the accidental revelations we make at parties, the awkward pauses, the farting and the spilled drinks and the general gaucherie of face-to-face contact. Instead, we have the lovely smoothness of a seemingly social machine. Everything’s so simple: status updates, pictures, your wall."

I can see both sides of the issue, but I am more concerned about the implications this has for our students.  Are they experiencing more loneliness than previous generations? Are they learning to hide behind a screen instead of interacting with reality? From my experience, many of my students wait to ask questions via email--especially when it is about something as potentially awkward as a question about a grade.  My classroom atmosphere is generally one that students feel comfortable in.  I work hard to make it a community where students and their ideas/questions are welcomed.  Despite that, many still prefer to interact via email or my website.  Is this another type of "literacy" that we need to be discussing with our kids? Should be be talking about social media and the benefits/drawbacks to finding your voice behind a screen?

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/8930/#