According to Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, the accoutrements of the digital life – social networking sites, texting, and e-mails, are undermining community life.
Talking to the Sunday Telegraph, he said that friendships were becoming more “transient,” with quantity valued over quality, and claimed that was a key factor in suicides among young people.
"Friendship is not a commodity," he said.
"Friendship is something that is hard work and enduring when it’s right."
He said that society was losing its interpersonal skills because, more and more, people were using media that were not real communities.
"Facebook and MySpace might contribute towards communities, but I’m wary about it."
"Among young people often a key factor in their committing suicide is the trauma of transient relationships."
"They throw themselves into a friendship or network of friendships, then it collapses and they’re desolate."
"It’s an all-or-nothing syndrome that you have to have in an attempt to shore up an identity; a collection of friends about whom you can talk and even boast."
