A coworker of mine recently sent an e-mail asking, “Why does technology seem inevitably to pull apart communities and isolate individuals?” His argument based on the assumption of Bowling Alone, that Americans are more isolated than ever. But my co-worker placed the blame for this trend squarely on the iPod and the accompanying trend of noise-isolating earbuds.

This didn’t seem fair to me. On one hand, the advent of the Internet and smartphones has changed how we communicate — we e-mail, text, video chat, IM and call more than we meet in person. This new kind of socializing could leave you lonely, or it could be a welcome extension of your varied interpersonal activities. But what about the gadgets themselves? Are they really contributing to the general isolation of the populous? I tend to think not. Read why, after the jump.