4. Questions for Consideration

4. Questions for Consideration

The evolution of communication raises questions about the nature of interpersonal interactions, the attractions and pitfalls of online communication, and the potential loss of traditional modes of contact. We invite you to consider these questions—and to pose your own—as you think about the changing nature of communication:

1. Is the nature of the way people relate to each other actually undergoing a change because of online communication? Or is interpersonal communication still essentially the same, with online modes of communication simply offering new opportunities for us to communicate (and miscommunicate)?
2. Why is online communication even appealing? What makes people interested in the kinds of interaction that take place on Facebook, or in Second Life, or over Skype or Twitter? Why do people go online and talk to each other instead of doing something else, like cooking or watching television or skiing?
3. What aspects of twentieth-century communication are replaced, and what is newly available because of online communication? Is anything lost as a result?
4. How is the nature of communication likely to change in the near future—or is it? What is the difference in the effect or use of online communication on older generations versus younger ones?

The phenomenon described here is ongoing, and it is our hope that this conversation will include reflection on the current shape of online communication as well as speculation and thoughtful conjecture about the future.