From Stephen Kellat, over at the LISTen podcast:

While many in the First World are more connected than ever with online tools and gadgetry, attention is taken away from the real world around you. When you functionally cease to be part of a community, value and cost make little sense to you. When you functionally cease to be part of a community, you become little more than alien without a grasp of the native language let alone culture. When you check out on society through electronic means, culture and knowledge wither as social stratification is increased through the reality of those who have electronic access and those who do not.

Read the full piece at LISNews.  To say the least, this is important stuff.