This week our guest posts focus on adapting the traditional to the new. The week will culminate on Thursday with a webinar on How to Socialize Your Newsroom.

Today: Relationships by Pat Rhoads.

Last month Gini Dietrich asked, “Is Facebook making us more lonely?”

Her post was based on a study in The Atlantic, concluding that indeed people seem to be more lonely in the age of social media.

The theory is that greater numbers of connections had not led to more meaningful ones. Gini’s reaction is she was torn about how she felt.

But I was not torn.

Although the study had  a number of valid observations, I disagree it is making us more lonely. The social media tools aren’t to blame; how we use them is the culprit.

I lost my wife Aimee in a boating accident a week before Christmas this past year. In the immediate aftermath of this terrible loss – not  not only to me but also to our then three-year old daughter, Aimee’s family, loved ones, and friends – I turned to social media. (more…)