If You’re Not Networking, You’re Not Social

Social media isn't isolating us as we tap on our laptops, smartphones and tablets; rather, we're becoming "hypersocial" in our virtual, avatar-populated environment, suggests researcher and author S. Craig Watkins. Rather than gathering in, say, the bowling alleys that were social hubs in the 1950s, we Wii-bowl with companions nearly anywhere on the globe.

The author of "The Young and The Digital," a book about today's so-called digital natives, visited that always-on generation Tuesday evening, speaking to students at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.