True, it isnt actually talking but it is better than nothing. This year me and friends were all seniors taking AP classes, working , playing sports etc. We never had time to call each other and talk. With Facebook it is at least possible to drop them a line really quick and ask them what is going on in their lives. When I have time, I always talk to my friends via phone. It is just that people dont have time to call and talk for long periods of time these days because of busy schedules.
^ It's interesting how the 'new generation' seems to believe that 'busy schedules' are a new thing... that in the past, people weren't busy.
True, there are infinitely more superficial and trivial distractions available to us seemingly every day - which renders people 'busy' (if you really want to call it that).
But the thing about life before the internet, cell phones, etc. is that people would make the time to truly interact with others - meaning either in person or by phone. Communication thus had more value then - because it wasn't as convenient. There was a direct connection between two people that is sadly lacking in today's 'virtual' world, where everything is fast and easy and convenient, but little is real.
You say that 'keeping in touch' via Facebook, etc. is "better than nothing"... but is it really?
If you suddenly found yourself with no Facebook, etc., no cell phone, no E mail... what would you do? Would you truly be left with this "nothing" you speak of? Would you cease all communication with those whom you don't see regularly? I doubt it.
What you would likely do is find the time to TALK with the people who are most important to you. Probably see them more often, too.
What this 'technology' does is make it simply far too convenient to 'keep in touch'. It is not true communication - not insofar as what we used to refer to as communication, at least.
Because it is so convenient, people do not take it seriously. They take it for granted - and this inherently lowers its value.
Whereas in the past, when we had to plan to make a phone call (from HOME), we appreciated it more, and didn't waste the experience talking about trivial nonsense.
"Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end…
We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate." - Henry Thoreau.