Face-to-face interaction more crucial than ever in Internet age

Create a space for community
By Theresa Hogue
Reality Bytes columnist Face-to-face interaction more crucial than ever in Internet age

For the past several years, phrases like “social networking” have become popular, in an attempt to describe the varied ways that people interact on the Web, whether it be chatting with like-minded people about a favorite pastime or trying to meet the partner of your dreams via the Internet.

What’s been striking about the enormous growth of social networking is that it apparently has become necessary to many people because of the increasing lack of social interactions on a face-to-face basis. As the world’s population rapidly increases, it appears that we have fewer and fewer opportunities to connect with each other socially.

Think of Corvallis a century ago. With a fraction of the population, most townspeople likely knew each other by sight. Almost everyone would have attended one of the city’s many churches, where they would have, at least once a week, a chance to gather with others for several hours. Many men would belong to some sort of fraternal or business organization, and while women had fewer social opportunities, they were likely to spend time with their female neighbors, leaning over fences or meeting each other at the local market.