Jaron Lanier Quotes

The world is becoming nicer and easier, but that doesn't mean we are any less lonely or any more connected.

Through social media, young people are constantly being pinged about a whole slew of potentially better matches or social activities.

In the past I have never thought about loneliness when working, and I don't think about it now. Yet there must be a reason for the fact that so many people talk about it.

When I first heard about Twittering, I thought it was the most disgusting thing I'd ever heard of in my life. It's like the devil: the idea that your personal life is there for everybody.

And remember don't high post when you're far from home, and high posting when you're all alone.

This social-networking thing takes you to crazy places.

There's a kind of immediacy that comes with being constantly connected that I don't really relate to in my generation.

My friends freaked out when I posted 'I'll Never Be Able To Love' on Facebook.

I think there's a fear of disconnect sometimes; communication is a huge issue for all of us, from adults to kids, as far as our face-to-face time and our ability to interact with each other without isolating itself to a phone. I think that has to be something that's very challenging.

We want to conquer the world and have 1,000 likes, 1 million likes, but at the same time, we are depressed. We are lonely, but we have 10,000 followers. We are all bipolar.

I think, as people, we're isolating ourselves. We're talking to each other through our phones, arguing... those divisions freak me out.

We think constant connection will make us feel less lonely. The opposite is true.

I think technology gives the illusion that you are connecting with people, social media particularly.

I've always been someone who needs someone with them to poke and annoy. I'm useless at being by myself.

For most people, Twitter feels lonely.

I think in this world of social media, we will be lost if we don't have an online account.

You can't socialise without being faceless idiots. More people have Facebook friends than actual friends these days.

Social media is making us more anti-social.

I'll read tweets that people will tweet at me from time to time, but I try not to read too much about it, because you just never know what's going to end up influencing you.

Facebook is all about information and helping people share it.

It seems like people increasingly just can't be by themselves because they're so used to having an epicenter on the Internet that actually exists for other people. Until someone clicks onto your Facebook page, it doesn't mean anything.

People aren't wired to be alone. Even in the stressful population of prison, solitary confinement is still considered a cruel punishment.

Having a Facebook and Twitter profile allows me to keep more in touch with people, particularly young South Africans and those who are part of the online community. I was amazed that anyone might be interested in what I do and who I meet. Now I know what people will be interested in.

So it is that Lonely Places attract as many lonely people as they produce, and the loneliness we see in them is partly in ourselves.

As much pleasure as young people get from Twittering and texting, there is no way these activities will nourish their minds and spirits the way literature can.