One of the great debates about the internet is what it is doing to the relationships that americans have with friends, relatives, neighbors, and workmates. on the one hand, many extol the internet's abilities to extend our relationships — we can contact people across the ocean at the click of a mouse; we can communicate kind thoughts at two in the morning and not wake up our friends. back in the early years of the internet, some prophets felt that the internet would create a global village, transcending the boundaries of time and space.