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 I wouldn't say that new technologies diminish the quality of communication so much as the amount we use them diminishes the quality of community. It used to be that if you had a friend or loved one who moved or was apart from you for a long period of time, you wrote them a letter. That was a concentrated effort. You sat, you thought about the person and what you wanted to say, then you sealed it up, mailed it off, and turned to the people who were actually in your presence for community. Then you were able to talk on the phone, which was still a contained process. You talked, then you hung up and talked to the people who were physically in your presence. Now, it's exactly like cara says: "The nature of the electronic devices encourage the users to integrate technology into their daily lives, and to constantly keep a strand of their attention focused on them at all times." A new freshman might spend hours in her room on the phone, on Skype, emailing, texting, Facebooking and g-chat-ing her friends and relatives from home. That means she doesn't talk to her roommate, or sit in the common room doing homework and strike up a conversation with a new person she hasn't met.

Obviously, the means to stay connected to people we know and love can be a wonderful thing. Are we maintaining our distant relationships at the cost of forging new ones?