Nearly an year ago, headlines in leading papers in America blared out the fact that ‘Americans are getting more and more isolated, thanks to technology’ and a sharply growing number of people said that they have no one to confide in.

The articles went on to quote a comprehensive survey that revealed that most Americans felt lonely and complained that their network of close relationships has dropped from about three to two in 20 years.

The same is slowly becoming true in India too. In our technology-driven world, it is so much easier and quicker to send a quick ‘hi! how you doing’ on email  or SMS or better still, scrap or poke your friends online. While some say it is better this way to keep a relationship going rather than lose touch completely, others believe that this kind of ‘intrusive technology’ is only making us more isolated.

Putnam, a professor at Harvard University and author of ‘Bowling Alone’, a book on social isolation, says any kind of social isolation has many well-documented side-effects. Kids will fail to thrive; Crime rises; Generosity shrivels. Well-connected people, online or otherwise, live longer, happier lives, he says.

It is also true that while technology can be very useful in strengthening existing friendships and forging new ones, sometimes the text message or the email can be misinterpreted. Smileys cannot really replace the joy of a by-two coffee or laughing, joking, playing and squabbling together. One can only conclude that technology is a mixed blessing and it is up to us to decide whether we want to become islands or reach out.