"With this in mind, just imagine how uninformed the public will be when
news reports are as brief and trivial as a Facebook comment."

Never been a fan of Facebook. There's something too creepy about it for me.

But the Russians are real interested in Facebook. Lookee here:

http://www.techcrunc...

No citizen's right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property is safe as long as Obama is President of the United States.

...but electronic communications, in whatever form, are most definitely wreaking havoc on the English language.

I have also noticed that most teens today lack the ability to write. I am not referring to the gibberish they type and text back and forth, but the physical act of picking up a pen or pencil and actually writing something on a sheet of paper.

-Dave

The need to socialize was a signal to get off the computer. I do agree about the difference in demeanor. In real life, I tend to be confrontational and split hairs..

I am the mob. Don't tread on me.

I had to laugh at that.

But what was disturbing was the picture you painted of kids sitting next to each other texting.  Just because you then mentioned the Big Chill.

Is there anything better than spending a few hours with an old friend?  One whom you've not seen in a zillion years....but the old relationship settles back in about 30 seconds after you think "wow, she looks OLD...or wow, he's aged well"?

I suspect the digital age has depersonalized us, to a certain extent.  OTOH, how many good friends have we made, whom we'd never have met....without the internet?

Nicely done, NS.

Oh...I still refuse to get a Facebook page (hell, I only got a cell phone 5 years ago because they made me!).

I hope he fails, too.

In one way or another, news coverage has gotten shorter and shorter ever since the advent of radio, then TV, then USA Today, then the Internet, all in an attempt to keep short attention spans engaged. But there always seems to have been a media source out there that can help you fill in any cracks that the "quick" version omitted. 

Socially, I've been skeeved out by a high school classmate who insists on posting pictures of her in various "artsy" poses that I really, really don't need to see. I've also had the people who are looking for attention: "Bill is really mad today" or over-enthusiastic about the smallest things: "Hey everybody! Going to the Piggly-Wiggly!"

But you learn to edit out the stuff you don't want / need, and find yourself concentrating much more on the relationships you really value. 

MySpace and Twitter...No one in my family either goes on those sites nor are any of us members on them. I realize that many think that they're great, and that's fine. However, I think that they can lead to a coarsening and breakdown of human-to-human relationships. People are much more likely to write things on sites like these that they would never say on the phone or face to face. I also think that they open the door for privacy invasions, and also for human predators to find new prey. Women, especially, I think can and have been targeted by those looking for their next victims, by going on sites like Facebook and MySpace. I prefer to email, write a letter, or pick up the phone!(that way you can hear the person's voice)  

Just my two cents...  :) 

"The problem is not that people are taxed too little...the problem is that government spends too much." ~President Ronald Reagan

to many instances of DWI fatalities,the future problems will be DWT,driving while texting or talking on a cell phone. 5 girls in ny state, 25 in california[train]. pls tak care. [sarc off]

"[O]ur thirteen and fourteen-year-old daughters lounged in the den texting each other."

 Really?  You're shocked by this?  There's not much reason for a kid that age to even need a cell phone (much less text) other than caving to peer pressure, and you expect the same kid who just /had/ to have text to have the responsibility to use it moderately?

Next time, I suggest you try teaching your kids, instead of pulling the classic "oh my gosh that's horrible, how could they have gone so wrong?" parental excuse. 

I managed to put together my 30th High School Reunion using Facebook, and Classmates.  I found just about everyone using those 2 sites, and the ones I didn't contact directly, were notified by others using the same methods.  So it really does have a value.  It also allows Shy and I to argue with liberals....great fun!!  :-)

There isn't a damn thing wrong with Facebook.  I am in my 50's and enjoy reconnecting with friends and relatives I have not seen in quite some time. 

I don't text a soul, but I do like Facebook.  If the left is worried that this little thing is going to ruin society then we really do own them.

Noel, IMHO, modern inventions such as Facebook/Twitter can be a very useful tool for modern life (e.g., the challenge of long-distance social networking).  But like other techno-tools (e.g., cell phones, digital cameras, etc.), they have a propensity for being abused.  Facebook is not a substitute for real relationships -- it is only a means to that ends.  Unfortunately, some people do not understand that.

That said, point well taken about the possibility of envy -- in spite of all our modern conveniences, human nature is no different than it was before Christ, and envy is one of those primordial sins that has, if anything, increased in our modern era.

"Let's wrap him up, alright?" -- Keith Olbermann

i admit- i like FB.. it's the only way i can connect with my family all over the US. JAJT

I am an ex-techie. I started in computers in 1956 and retired in 2006. In spite of years of technical training, I have a hard time trying to use Facebook. Like you, I have been encouraged to join and so I did , so as not to offend. I can't figure the damn thing out. Every time I am asked to participate, I wind up somewhere in the stratosphere of the great internet cloud. My wife tell me it is because I do not want to learn it. I think she is right.

I have a cell phone. I bought $100 worth of service 7 months ago. I still have $95 left. I can, and occasionally do, talk the ear off a stone statue, but not on the phone.  I cannot imagine what people have to say that is so concentration demanding as to talk or text for hours.

 Further, I am one of those who pulls off the road to answer the phone in the few cases where I receive a call. I am comfortable that I will never kill anyone.

BUT I DO HAVE THE ANSWER TO TEXTING-- because of tthe deterioration of the school system in America over the past 40 years--texting is the speed at which most Americans THINK.

 My son used to get angry with me because I expected him to know the 12s table....Kind of sad, eh????