Do you think internet made people more social or the opposite?

Less. People often don't talk even when they're in the same room. They text! Relating at electronic distance. We're becoming emotional cowards.

What happens on the net appears to be nearly instantaneous intimacy.

I might not know my own family member is cutting, or suicidal, but I will know it here.

It's not genuine intimacy, though. it's manufactured. We create places where we fit. We assume the people in that place fit us. They may in one or more ways, but then something - a political stance or an attitude about interracial relationships or romantic inclinations suddenly blows it all up.

We feel a profound sense of betrayal and hurt over the loss of something that did not exist in the first place. So we take another step back.

definitely less. In the 90's, you had to talk on the phone and people sometimes would come visit without notice. Life seemed more spontaneously social back then.

I think people overall have become much more social in the Internet age. Personally, it has given me the opportunity to converse with people all over the world, something that before required travel or at least access to a ham radio. Are Internet relationships short? Often, yes, but the same is true for face-to-face relationships. I have online friends whom I've know for longer than almost all of my real-life friends, and probably know them better.

So, it depends, I think. YMMV.

I guess it depends on who a person is. As a whole I say less but for some people who are shy or are shut ins the internet is a godsend.

Less