Thanks to social networking, the world communicates more now that it ever has. People engage in conversations that span the globe, start long-term relationships that never consummate in any way, and live in neat little video-enhanced digital communities that lack borders. Sounds great — on the surface. But what hath social networking actually wrought? Are those of us who engage in it smarter, wiser, better connected? Or are we trading down in our interpersonal communications because speaking face to face can become … well, you know, so messy.

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