The flight from conversation

this article by an MIT professor is very interesting

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-from-conversation.html?pagewanted=3&ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=all

I'm interested in this idea that by shifting to digital communication, humans are changing their entire way of dealing with the outside world.  The punch line is that there is no longer a conversation - but I don't think this is true.  There is still conversation, in another form.  What I do think is interesting is the idea that digital communication is addictive (my word, not hers) because it allows you to feel connected without having to actually engage in the sometimes frustrating, unpredictable and sometimes complicated existence that is another human in physical form.  It sets up such a comfortable barrier, that everyone can be alone and together at the same time.  

I wonder - have humans for all time been waiting for this? a way to be together and alone at the same time?  when I see micronesians here with their huge families, I wonder how they can live like that - so many people and personalities in the same small apartment.  it seems to take a skill that I don't have at all.  at the same time, i am rarely alone in my place, even if I'm physically alone.  i gave up facebook, but now find myself calling people more, and have started making far-away acquaintances on a site called Livemocha.com (for learning languages).  It's as if even my friends were too much responsibility, and finding a site that allows me to be with other users anonymously is the new "just right" for me. 

This has been a week of realizing that everyone is always in their own bubble, struggling their own struggle.  And everyone must eventually decide what life is about, what gives your particular life meaning.  Some seem to be more comfortable with this question than others - some seem to solve it by having children.  I think everyone has to deal with it eventually.