The development and widespread use of computer technology and the internet have transformed how we communicate, how business is conducted, how information is dispersed, and how society is organized. Prior to approximately 1980, in-depth information about any one subject matter was attained through laborious research involving countless visits to libraries and via repeated interviews with persons of known reputation and reputable expertise. Now, a great deal of information is available at the click of a mouse button, all attainable from within the confines of ones own home or from the use of a computer in an office. Previous labor-intensive support jobs, such as loading and unpacking of trucks, luggage handling at airports and food manufacturing, once performed by a large middle-class workforce, are now performed routinely by robots which are monitored by computer-controlled systems.
Our lives have been simplified by the advent of computer and internet technologies, but likewise these benefits which have been ushered in by the technology revolution have had an averse affect on the core of our interpersonal-relationships. Mere communication is no longer via postal mail or face-to-face contact, but rather via electronic email, personal internet message boards, and by virtue of hand-held personal electronic assistants. Although computer technology has brought us to within a mouse-click of any sought-after piece of information, this technology boom has sequestered us to the confines of our computer desks and homes and has removed us away from those traditional settings were personal and communication skills are developed.