Editor’s Note: This article is part of a larger series of Q&As that originated in the future-focused UD Magazine. To see additional questions, please visit the Envisioning the Future website.

Our problems will become magnified, but that doesn’t necessarily mean our relationships have to suffer. The big fear is that we will replace face-to-face interactions with digital ones, that we will lose our ability to live in the moment — while driving, parenting or just having lunch with a friend. There’s the risk that we will tailor our lives to impress the people looking at our online presence rather than the people we’re with “IRL” [in real life]. If we’re all staring into our phones at night, not talking, we may not have meaningful relationships 20 years from now.

Then again, technological benefits are vast. We now have access to international social networks where we can share knowledge, information and expertise; where we can offer support and feel less isolated. All of the downsides have upsides. Facebook exploded only 13 years ago. The iPhone is 11 years old. Who can say where we’ll be a decade from now? Technology has already changed our lives so dramatically, and our world seems to be changing more rapidly, as a result. We’re communicating faster, in unprecedented ways, and that brings both the good and bad. It’s probably more fun to talk about the dangers, but then we’d miss out on all the benefits, too.  

Scott Caplan, AS93, 95M, is an associate professor of communications at the University of Delaware. His most recent book, "The changing face of problematic Internet use: An interpersonal approach, examines how our online behavior affects our personal lives and social interactions."