Just like in meatspace, conversation online is exactly what you make it. If you create online social spaces for yourself full of superficiality and narcissistic

Just like in meatspace, conversation online is exactly what you make it. If you create online social spaces for yourself full of superficiality and narcissistic triviality, that is what you will experience. Just like how whether your in person conversations are substantial or not depends completely on who you chose to associate with and how you chose to communicate with them. Surely the author and the psychologist have observed countless people blathering on in person about utterly trivial topics, or sharing the equivalent of "verbal selfies" with their self-centered monologues? You can easily create deep, personal, high quality conversation online, but it takes conscious effort, just like in the rest of life. The same goes for whether your online usage is isolating, or serves to deepen your in-person connections - it's totally up to you.