Personal Connections in the Digital Age, by Nancy Baym

The internet has allowed for a blurring and changing of social interaction and human communication. It has not only allowed people to communicate across oceans when it was once impossible, but it allows instant communication all over the world.

This change creates a dichotomy between public and private: copyrighted and shared content, mass and interpersonal, fascinating and mundane,  and physical and digital - for instance, if someone really is a part of a "real life" conversation if he or she is focused on a cell phone or computer. People refer to their real life and their virtual identity as if they were two completely separate lives instead of one wrapped up inside the other, or their physical life revolves around their virtual one.

Phones and the internet allow for interaction without physical interaction. People build friendships entirely based on online profiles, which may or may not be accurate. The important aspects of face to face interaction are often forgotten in preference to text which is less personal and easier to use when dealing with emotional issues.

This book also goes through the shift from personal communication on a physical level to that of a digital level. The shift is gradual, but it changes the way we interact at a ever faster rate as the internet becomes ever more accessible through phones and other mediums.

This book is a well written and interesting read which emphasizes key issues regarding the digital age. This phenomenon allows for great progression and greater communication and connection while also pushing for fewer real life connections as people put their digital life before their regular interactions - this is easily seen in the use of a cell phone when other people are present.

Insightful and enjoyable. I'd love to see what the author has to say on the topic in a few years when we have moved further in this digital direction.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/408225456