Reaction to "Wealth of Networks" by Benkler

To me, the weakening of human connections is a result of the networking communities. If you're having trouble and the only way to contact that person is via the internet, they might not have access to it or currently unavailable so one is left with an email of something of that sort that does not address that problem upfront. It is given time to marinade and become in a sense less significant since it is put off. Even if there is the instance of communicating via IM so that a 'here and now approach' can be used, the human emotion, language tone, etc is lost. Regardless of the means of communication i.e. telephone, internet, etc, at least one of the five senses is lost in translation. Without the use of all five senses it's hard to derive or duplicate its significance since it already is being handed down from the original source. From the original source, information could be lost or dismissed, and with the addition of loss of sense(s), information loses it's goal to achieve an aspect of re-experiencing the situation.

I've found myself to the point that if there is no one available here and now to communicate to, then the significance of the problem declines and so does a persons self worth. There tendencies to reach out for help diminish and a person is left alone without any sense of direction, which ultimately ends up in more confusion or misdiagnosis under such duress.

This is a bit of a psychological point of view, but it's to address that even if people are multiplying there connections among people, it does not however include the face-to-face interactions, and creates a platform of disconnected, just enough to get by, relationship.