When the social network doesn't find it convenient to have privacy, we say, "Okay, social network, you don't want privacy, maybe we won't have it either." But we did this without having the conversation.

People are lonely. The network is seductive. But if we are always on, we may deny ourselves the rewards of solitude.

What technology makes easy is not always what nurtures the human spirit.

Robots want to love us because the field of artificial intelligence has programmed robots to say they want to love us.

The feeling that 'no one is listening to me' make us want to spend time with machines that seem to care about us.

My own study of the networked life has left me thinking about intimacy - about being with people in person, hearing their voices and seeing their faces, trying to know their hearts. And it has left me thinking about solitude - the kind that refreshes and restores. Loneliness is failed solitude.

Human relationships are rich and they're messy and they're demanding. And we clean them up with technology. We sacrifice conversation for mere connection.