More and more, human interactions are shifting from the real and personal world and over  to the virtual world. It started with shopping and the invention of e-commerce. While once we had to walk into a store and interact with sales people and other customers and cashiers, today we can buy anything online – even groceries for tonight’s dinner.

Then there were forums. We found that we could enter the virtual world to ask others we had never met and probably never would, anything — from technical support questions to health questions to advice about intimate matters. But for actual companionship, we still had to interact in the real world. Our status updates came only by talking to our friends or seeing them in person. Photos were something we carried in our wallets to show one another. And the people in our social circles were generally people we truly knew and had real relationships with.

But with the introduction of social networking, yet another sphere in our lives has shifted to the virtual. The possibility that you can continue to get everything you need, work, play, socialize, etc. without ever getting up from your desk truly exists today. For adults, this is strange, foreign and intimidating. For kids growing up today, it’s not strange and they don’t question it – it simply a part of their environment and culture like any other part of life – the kind of food they eat, their school responsibilities, dressing in certain ways, etc.

That said, the shift from the real to the virtual carries with it many legitimate concerns that we must examine and be aware of the possible problems. We should not forget to teach our children to maintain balance. They need to have limits and to be  aware that virtual interactions and friendships can not replace real ones. The importance of developing social skills and of human contact must not be neglected.