Significant other: technology

Currently, I am working on a research paper that deals with how technological advances throughout time have affected the quality of face-to-face interaction in our interpersonal relationships. According to the Pew Research Center, 95% of Americans has some sort of cell phone and 77% of those are smart phones. Where is our attention as society going to? Is it with our relationships we have with those (family, friends, classmates, co-workers) in our real life? Or connecting with them through our devices to avoid the duties of an intimate conversation?

These are questions I have been asking myself. Are we devaluing face-to-face conversation because technological advances have allowed us to “connect” other ways? Are we really as “connected” as we think?