OK, this isn’t going to be easy for me, but sometimes an adult has to accept they may not know everything about everything . . . even me. And I think I was wrong about social networking.

Take Facebook and Twitter for example. They bring joy to many but the idea of basing one’s social life around a website, participating via a keyboard, seemed to me to encourage another layer of separation in society.

I had visions of people locked in bedrooms, typing out lonely emails to imaginary friends, spurning real time with friends and family in favour of unsustainable relationships with electronic aquaintances.

We used to have strong communities with close circles of friends and family, good neighbours always on hand and none further away than a phone call. But with the best will in the world, we don’t have that any more. So, far from adding to the collapse of our communities, I’m starting to realise that in Facebook and the like, we’re seeing the birth of a new community.

Our world has expanded in an explosion of satellite communication and internet connections. We’re not limited by roads and telephones, not one corner of our diverse planet is beyond our reach. We used to live our whole lives in one place, building long-term relationships, never thinking beyond the boundaries of the county or country we were born in. But we live more transient lives now, travelling huge distances, making friends and losing them along the way.

Perhaps social networking is the answer? It gives insight into the lives of those we know but would otherwise rarely touch base with.

And let’s face it – we’re lazy creatures. At the end of a long day, the last thing I want to do is pick up the phone and start a long-winded catch-up with friends and family in far-flung places. Love them though I do, I have a tendency to put it off until tomorrow. But tomorrow never comes and before I know it, time’s passed, my friends feel unloved and I feel guilty and the connection between us begins to falter.

Whereas, at the click of a mouse I can check on everyone I know, revel in gossip, share in heartache, giggle at photos and go to bed safe in the knowledge that they’re still close and reachable, that we’re connected.

And all without a tired jaw and a large phone bill!

So what do you think? Convinced? Is social networking the natural evolution of the community or just the last refuge of a social misfit? Either way, I think it’s here to stay.