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What’s more, the on-line world is not truly distinct from the off-line one. We use the Internet and social media largely to stay in touch and make plans with people we already know from face-to-face relationships. Email and social media communications aren’t better or worse than in-person ones; they’re just different. And they complement each other.
To be sure, our increasing on-line connectedness has changed our perceptions of our social world. Decades ago, our social networks were decidedly local; we primarily spoke with our neighbors and nearby friends and family members. More recently, we have become, in Wellman’s words, “glocalized,” simultaneously involved in both local and long-distance relationships. This was certainly enabled by long-distance phone service, which largely put one household in touch with another.
More recently, though, the rise of personal cell phones and social media have allowed us to stay in touch with other individuals regardless of location. This, according to Wellman, is “networked individualism.” We no longer require homes, offices, or cafes to stay in touch with people; we can do it wherever we happen to be.
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