Is IT creating a society of antisocial people?

it is just different

I really have to disagree with your blanket statement that IT is making us all anti-social creatures. I think it is the exact opposite.

I'm sure when the telephone starting being more widely used, people complained as well. "We never talk face-to-face. We're always on the telephone." When in reality, the telephone allowed more communication with people whom you did not see all the time.

Just like IT has helped people connect in ways they didn't before. I know that I have got to speak with lots of old classmates, friends, and family that without IT and social websites, I would have never spoken to again.

I get to post my photos of family and what's going on in my world, and friends and family get to know a lot more about me than with just a "so-called conversation."

I think IT has opened a whole new way of communicating, and that we as humans are communicating more than we ever have. The world has gotten a lot smaller. I like the way it is going.

Take this blog and comments. If it were not for IT, we could never have this discussion.

Let's be specific...

First of all, you do a disservice to the subject of the effects of IT on social interaction if you do not distinguish between professional communications and personal communications. The former is likely pursued electronically because trying to track down a colleague for conversation may be a trial, whereas sending an email gets it done right now and the worker can move on. Additionally, there is a certain economy of effort and time that can be pursued if one communicates to a colleague through email. Finally, professional email can be made just as pleasant as conversation with the addition of a few items, such as inquiry into the health of family, or adding trivia to warm the email up. For a long time I have added a SF trivia "question of the day" at the bottom of my email to make it more personable. And the responses I sometimes get have been truly engaging.

On the other hand, personal communication should also be broken down between local communication (within, say, twenty feet of the individual) (the distance is arbitrary--choose your own radius) and distance communication. If I can pop my head out the door of my house and chat with my neighbor, I will do so and thoroughly enjoy the experience. Exchanging email with them is the last thing I would do. If, on the other hand, I want to talk with my little brother in Texas (as the moniker implies, I am in Missouri), calling might do the job, but there's a good chance that I will call while the baby's sleeping, or while the family's out shopping, or while something else is happening which makes the conversation at best, inconvenient and at worst, intrusive. Sitting down and typing out an email makes sure that the communication I want to have with my little brother is completed without causing him or his family any disruption to their schedule, and he/they can answer at their leisure.

I also have more control over an email. Maybe I decide to spend ten minutes on the electronic letter, but if I call, I may find myself unable to detach myself from a talkative friend after half an hour. I suppose this is indeed less personal, but the result for me is far more enjoyable, and the minor reduction in the quality of social character is, to me, worth it.

So in the end, proximity and category of communication may make a big difference over whether I choose email or voice, and to be sure, I most often choose email and do not feel guilty for a second.

So True

The more we use technology to "stay in touch" the less we actually communicate.

I would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for your blog :)

"The postal service must be feeling the pain as they keep raising the cost of mailing a letter regularly."

The internet punishes a lot of companies that are inefficient, no handling physical objects or driving hurts on the small massive information alerts and mass mailings but FedEx and UPS took most of the express mail and package delivery years ago. If it was not for federal subsidies the US postal service would be gone soon.

"the thing that struck me is that this guy was the most chatty, friendly, outgoing guy you’d ever meet. He'd go on and on for a half hour about most any subject. But over the past five years he's gradually become much less chatty and more antisocial. He even admitted to me that he prefers to use email just so he doesn't have to talk to people."

"I like IT as much as anyone, but I still prefer a good conversation to an email any day."

Conversations he wants to have and wants to avoid may are not the same as flat out anti-social, also their are bigger issues in life that often will make bigger changes in how a person chooses to communicate than method of communication. Their are some conversations that are never fun in person, and when it is socially acceptable to email it, they do not have to deal as much. Their are many cases of people who are in fact may be depressed, life has ups and downs.

I have personally noticed in people (that I am guessing are you and your friends age) they and their friends have been working in the same job for some time and have less to disuse. With the economy the way it is has put more stress on those in financial trouble, also stressing those who are not in trouble now but feel they have some vulnerability that could become a problem and even many who will not have a problem but are none the less not in as good a position as they felt they were a year or two ago or are worried about others they care about that they may not be able to do much for.

Agree

Email and online (non-voice) chat is so sterile. You can't get the gist of someone's personality from just what they type. You often can't even tell exactly what they are saying without the tone-of-voice factor. It can be difficult to gauge whether they are kidding or insulting or just making a comment they consider neutral.

It's sad, really, that people don't talk via voice or in person much anymore. We're losing our interpersonal communication skills and kids today just "text" each other.

People in "emerging nations" that don't yet have our level of technology often misunderstand us because we've lost the ability to communicate effectively outside of the technical realm.