The Porch
Houses today don’t have porches. For some reason, people don’t see the need to sit outside and just chat. Perhaps it’s because a porch, even as large as this one, can only hold a small, finite number of people.
With the advent of social networking, most of us have hundreds or even thousands of so-called “friends” (or maybe “followers”). Porches are for friends; pews are for followers, by the way. Someone at work told me that I posted more frequently on Twitter or FriendFeed than anyone else they knew. I told them that I didn’t have a life; their response was, “No, it’s because you’re connected.”
I’d rather have a porch than a pulpit.
I'm of mixed minds. Online interaction is not the same as real-world relationships. But, in our era there seems to be a shortage of real-world friendships, so the online ones are about the best we can find. Not to dimish the value of the online contacts, but the relationship is different, not necessarily worse.