• Pew, Thursday, November 5, 2009 3:18 PM

And in related news: rather than connecting humankind, Pew asks whether proliferating digital and mobile technologies are likely disconnecting people -- and in particular U.S. consumers, who since 1985 have been found to be more socially isolated, while the size of their discussion networks has declined, and the diversity of those people with whom they discuss important matters has decreased.

To date sociologists had argued that the type of social ties supported by new technologies are relatively weak and geographically dispersed -- not the strong, often locally-based ties that tend to be a part of peoples' core discussion network. Furthermore, they depict the rise of the Web and mobile phones as one of the major trends that pulls people away from traditional social settings, neighborhoods, voluntary associations, and public spaces that have been associated with large and diverse core networks.

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