While this possibility does exist, one should also look at the positive side

Technology is a funny thing. When it doesn't achieve anything, people gleefully point out that it is a failure. On the other hand, when it leads to a sweeping change, many lament how it has spoilt the world and wistfully point out to the 'good old days' and how nice it was then.

The latest to get on the on the let-us-bash-technology bandwagon is Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster. In an article that appeared on reuters.com, he is quoted as telling the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that, "Friendship is not a commodity, friendship is something that is hard work and enduring when it's right."



Is he right?

It is very hard to give a straight yes or no answer to something like this. It is true that in today's day and age, when people are too busy just getting to work and back, one cannot form too many friends or even keep in touch with old ones.

But there is also a positive side to it if you have email, you can be in touch with friends all over the world, and thanks to the mobile, one can be reached by friends anytime of the day.

So, clearly, technology is a great boon, though sometimes it doesn't have too much to offer.

Who is to blame?

But we need to ask ourselves one question before we blame technology is it solely technology's fault? Or is it our fault? Are we putting technology to good use?

Let us just look at good old email and a modern sensation like Twitter. With email, it can be argued, one can send long notes and add depth to a friendship. On the flip side, with Twitter, one sends small 140 character messages, which might be deemed to be 'shallow'.

This is not to be construed as a criticism of Twitter it can also be said that Twitter may lead to people keeping in touch more often because it is easier to write 140 characters than to write a full page of text for a detailed email.

And if you think that I'm deliberately leading you around in circles, I'm notu2014all that I'm trying to say is that a question of how technology affects humans has to be settled not by praising technology or criticising it. It can only be done by understanding humans better.

QUICK TAKE
>>The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England says technology leads to shallow relationships
>>But technology cannot be solely blamed

Old hat
People have been blaming technology in the context of friendship for some time now. In fact, in September 2007, guardian.co.uk carried an article that quoted psychologist Will Reader from Sheffield Hallam University as saying that, "Although the numbers of friends people have on these [social networking] sites can be massive, the actual number of close friends is approximately the same in the face to face real world."