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The Internet obviously offers convenient new ways to connect and communicate, but that is not the same thing as being in community with one another. Time and space have to be actually shared, memory and meaning created through mutual effort. There is a hollowness to an all virtual reality. It can be a poignantly alone place. Although it may appear we are better in touch via cyberspace, I believe we are more divided and insular than ever before because of our over-reliance on it. It is not always comfortable or fun being in community with one another, so the Internet allows people an easy avoidance of the hard work required to build and sustain actual kinship. We learn and grow through lived relationship. Without that, we stagnate.
-- Mark Thompson in White Crane Journal
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