Do you know your neighbors?

A recent Op-Ed article by Charles Blow about the age of digital life and our social life in the physical world. Here is the article.

In his article, he also mentioned a recent statistics from the Pew Research Center. It turns out 43% of Americans know all or most of their neighbors by names, 29% know some, and 28% know none. These numbers perhaps invoke the question: which category is you?

The message I got from this article is the effects of technology use are complex. We gain some benefits but they may come with costs with losing something else. For example, Blow believes that technology use improves civic engagement but we end up with people who are more socially isolated.

His suggestion is "it is important for us to remember that tangible, meaningful engagement with those around us builds better selves and stronger communities."