How Much is Too Much?

Do you ever feel that as the world invents more and more ways to “stay in-touch” virtually that you are spending less and less time with people literally?

I asked myself this question after reading a blog post by Ben Benson. In his post Benson shared his experience using Twitter – yet another virtual network. After reading his blog post I counted all the ways that I “stay connected”: PR Open Mic, Facebook, MySpace, e-mail, blogging, text messaging. And now that almost everyone today owns a cell phone, never a second goes by that I don’t stay “connected”.

Stephanie McCulley made a great point in a recent blog about the addictive properties of virtual social networks. Not only do they allow us to keep up-to-the-second on gossip and social circles, but they provide us with a way to escape from our daily lives.

At what point does “staying connected” in a virtual sense detract from our ability, or desire, to stay connected in “real” life? Are we trying to avoid actual physical interaction with others, or do we truly prefer to use technology which may be pushing us further apart?