Technology and the crisis of self

Communication between people occurs in a social context including role relationships eventually negotiated by participants. Developing and maintaining these relationships assists the society, and the entire communicative process is a necessary condition for a person's definition of a self identity. Contemporary technologies potentially limit the development of social relationships and broadening of self‐concepts. Computers cannot fulfill many social functions and could disrupt the social fabric, thereby losing vehicles for defining and constructing self. Planning training to improve communication skills may avoid negative consequences. Finding methods to augment new technologies with opportunities to develop relationship‐building skills must become a high priority.