Many commentators believe new technologies have made us lonelier, with headlines likes “Sad, Lonely World Discovered in Cyberspace”; “Alone in the Vast Wasteland”; and “The Lonely American Just Got a Bit Lonelier”; and books such as Bowling Alone, The Lonely American, and Alone Together..

On the contrary, people use new media to enhance their existing relationships, suggests Claude S. Fischer, author of Still Connected (2011).