WE'VE all heard the now famous 'The World is Flat' refrain to explain the rapid pace of integration of the global economy. The phrase is actually from the tile of Thomas Friedman's iconic book on globalisation.

While globalisation is big, sexy and happening, the nervous system that is driving it is the Internet. And what does the Internet do? It allows communication and collaboration with distance being no longer a factor.

Very few of us stop for a moment to ponder whether there is a social cost involved in this rapid adoption of technology to communicate. After all, it is fundamentally changing how humans have behaved since the Stone Ages.

Ever since we evolved into Homo Sapiens, the only form of communication that we have known is face-to-face interaction. It is only over the last few decades that technology has allowed us to talk to one another from a distance.

We've been talking over the phone for a long time now. It is only recently that short text messaging (SMS), along with its more sophisticated cousins - instant messaging over the Internet and email - have become the major tools of communication. While estimates vary, email accounts for by far the most amount of traffic on the Internet.

And that's where the worry lies - are we as a species equipped to undergo a fundamental change in a habit that has been with us for millennia, within a span of a decade?

How has this changed human behaviour? Consider a recent survey which landed on our desks sometime ago about mobile phone usage.

It showed that nearly one in four Singaporeans are guilty of 'textcheating' on their partners by sending flirty short text messages (SMS) to other people.

The global study interviewed more than 8,500 people worldwide. In Singapore 1,004 people participated. Respondents were asked what kind of messages they send via mobile phones. Since Singapore has a mobile phone penetration rate of more than 100 per cent, every person living on the island theoretically owns a mobile phone and sends text messages as well.

SMS breakup

Singaporeans are also among the most likely to use their mobiles to get out of a relationship, with nearly one in 10 people (9 per cent) having dumped a boyfriend or girlfriend by text message.

Interesting as the results are, the real important point that it brings out is how pervasive mobile phones have become as a communication tool and conversely how the importance of face-to-face interaction is diminising.

When you have people flirting over the phone via SMS or breaking off relationships using text messaging then you know we are truly hooked on the little device that we carry in our pockets.

Also, can you remember when was the last time you shouted across the room to one of your colleagues to ask for something rather than sending a message over the office internal messaging system?

One can't help but ponder whether such a drastic change in communicative culture is good or bad for society, especially for young children who are growing up immersed in technology? Unfortunately the jury is still out on this.

Look at it this way: if you did not have a phone, Internet or computer you would be interacting only with those people who are within talking distance. With a phone or computer your reach - that is the number of people you can interact with - increases exponentially with distance no longer a problem.

So, if we take into consideration that much of human progress - from being hunter gatherers to a species capable of landing on the moon - has been the result of interaction and exchange of knowledge, then all these new tools that help us to share knowledge with a much wider group is a blessing.

Clueless generation

Unfortunately, the downside is lost in the gung-ho of progress. While it's true that technology has made communication much more efficient, the importance of the act of face-to-face exchange is often overlooked.

Some studies of business meetings have shown that more than 50 per cent of communication is non-verbal in nature - such as the furrowing of eyebrows, the tightening of jaw muscles, etc. The same holds true for social communication and interaction as well.

We are all trained to recognise these signs. Our experience since childhood tells us that if someone furrows his or her eyebrow that's most probably because of anger.

Now, an entire generation of children are growing up who would rather text message or email friends, or meet them on some online chatroom, rather than in person. Children living in the same building sometimes interact via a chatroom located on some server halfway across the globe, instead of meeting at the park downstairs.

Will this generation lose the important social skill of recognising emotions in others because they have not had the training since childhood? Will these children be able to survive, sustain and blossom in personal relationships like marriage, parenthood and friendship which require intimate social interaction? Will they be responsible social citizens?

Or will they find it easier to interact with others, including their family, in the anonymous world of cyberspace - places like Second Life, for example? Second Life is a hugely popular virtual online world where one can take on a role playing model, start a virtual life in the form of an avatar, become part of a community and even have an emotional relationship with a person whom one may have never met in real life.

Will virtual communities become more important than real society?

Maybe all this is alarmist. But this is something we need to think about long and hard even as we celebrate our newfound mastery over technology in this new century which will see unprecedented progress for mankind.

This article first appeared in BT on March 19, 2007