Social networking:better or worse than the real thing?

Watching the internet go from dial-up to wireless was probably the best technological advance I witnessed many years ago.  Nowadays, you can have an entire relationship without ever having to leave your computer chair or shaking hands with the other person.  Although social networking has contributed to the communication between nations and organizations thousands of miles apart, it has also helped personal relationships wither away.  Our thoughts are no longer deemed significant unless they are posted on facebook or twitter.  Every picture from the weekend has to be posted, otherwise the rest of your friends won't ever know that you had a great weekend partying or camping or just sitting home and studying.  Teenagers are online writing about their lives instead of going outside and living them.  Social networking may be a superb way to find people we haven't seen since high school or middle school, but it should not take away from meeting people face to face and having conversations that are not electronic.