Thread: Advancement in comm tech = deterioration of communications?

I've just read this - "Gmail Down"

Facebook, Friendsters, Myspace, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Gmail, Google, highspeed Internet, streaming videos, mobile phones, all are advancement in telecommunications technology that has made the world a smaller place. The ability to communicate using the technology available to us is incredible, yet we are more disconnected than our forefathers who didn't even have a telephone in their time.

It seems to me that the more isolated we are from each other (I for example, couldn't even communicate with my family!) and yet we're trying to build/invent technology that will keep us connected. This inverse relationship really puzzles me. Could it be my ego that keeps me from the connection between my family? And how can technology help in that if I'm flawed in this communication thing?

I rate hive-mind progress.

Going back to the issue of Gmail down, did that happen? some of my friends are saying they couldn't log into their Gmail account a few days ago. With the amount of users using Gmail, I wonder what sort of chaos it would create if Gmail is down for an hour.