"Why is it that in an age of cheap long-distance rates, discount airlines and the Internet, when we can create community anywhere, we often don’t know the peopl

"Why is it that in an age of cheap long-distance rates, discount airlines and the Internet, when we can create community anywhere, we often don’t know the people who live next door?" This question is its own answer... We formely didn't have much choice over who we communicate with because distances were a real impediment. Now that we can communicate with "anyone", the opportunity cost is that we'll necessarily communicate less with the only ones we could communicate with before.