And yet we are growing closer together every day because of the internet. Technologies like Skype, Hangouts, and FaceTime enable human interaction like never before.
I don't find looking at a person on a screen makes me feel "close" to them anymore than watching a person on a television show.
The people I feel "close" to are people I see in real life. But maybe I have a different definition of "close" than other people.
This was intended more towards people you don't normally see face to face. My parents live across the country. I can maybe see them twice a year. My college friends have moved elsewhere, but we can definitely play a game of DnD over Hangouts and Roll20. My relatives live abroad, but I still get (virtual) face-to-face time with them.
This would have been incomprehensible 100 years ago, and is a huge innovation in terms of bringing humans closer together. Sure, if you decide to start communicating with your roommate over FaceTime rather than actually talking to them in person, you're going to experience a decline in "closeness", but if you use these technologies normally, I think they absolutely have the potential to maintain strong connections where none could have existed before.
I don't find looking at a person on a screen makes me feel "close" to them anymore than watching a person on a television show.
The people I feel "close" to are people I see in real life. But maybe I have a different definition of "close" than other people.