> "When you spend your time on the Internet,
> you don't hear a human voice and you never
> get a hug."

Frankly speaking, this is true.

Rinkworks is a greatly positive community in which everyone of us can freely express his/her opinions and thoughts without any fear of being unaccepted; facing different opinions, learning how to respect other people even if we disagree with their arguments, sharing our human value is indeed a great opportunity for our personal, cultural and intellectual growth.

The Internet, but this applies to all communication media, may be a shield that helps us to protect ourselves from 'external attacks', that brings to the extreme point our ability to wear some sort of 'mask' that prevent other people to know our real feelings, our emotional state or our weak points; it's obvious that this is a misuse of the communication media because in this way a person isolates himself from the real world instead of reinforcing his skill to interact with other people; quoting from the well known Pink Floyd's song, "all in all, it's just another brick in the wall"...
The communication media may help us to select other people that match our taste, that believe in the same things as us, that shares our opinions and values, but this must be the start - not the end - of a process that helps us to climb that wall.

Everyone of us needs to meet other people, look at their faces, have a share of physical contact; when a person feels alone, a chatroom of friends may be helpful but it isn't -and shouldn't be- the final solution.

So, in my opinion, the communication media aren't positive or negative by themselves; what's positive or negative is the way everyone of us uses them; living the most of our social life on-line, even in a positive community like RW, is not good.

I agree with Brunnen-G's opinion, because a friendly hug from a real person, the feelings that only warm skin may communicate, the exchange of emotions between two people that look in each other's eyes cannot be compared to the best and most positive on-line experience.

Andrea.

P.S.
"political scientist"?
Is maybe a scientist whose researches and studies produce results that vary according to the political opinions and parties that run the actual Government? :)