[Air-L] the least-est generation

[Barry Wellman]

It is common for the public, policymakers and scholars in each generation
to say "Things ain't what they used to be". Indeed, I started off my
"Community Question Re-evaluated" paper with that quote way back in the
early 1980s, when folks were talking about the death of community (way
before Bob Putnam did so).

I look forward to reading the Dumbest book and seeing what systematic
evidence the author provides.

In my experience, Internet scholarship keeps showing net positive benefits
while the media keeps going oi gevalt! Government plays it both ways --
worrying about cyberstalking, etc but getting all excited about the new
world of the Internet superhighway.

YMMV,
 Barry Wellman
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  S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC              NetLab Director
  Department of Sociology                        University of Toronto
  725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388                  Toronto Canada M5S 2J4
  http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman            fax:+1-416-978-3963
  Updating history:     http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php
         Elvis wouldn't be singing "Return to Sender" these days
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