There is nothing bad about accentuating the positive, but even the biggest optimist must acknowledge that there has to be something there to accentuate. Ofcom's discovery that Britons use social networking websites more than everyone except the Canadians misses this benchmark. So does the companion finding that our radio listening now exceeds 21 hours per week, more even than the French (who have neither Toby Anstis nor Chris Moyles).
This is not about Canada or France; gun control and socialised medicine are as admirable as TGVs and fine wine. It is about the mood of a nation, in which lonely keyboard sessions and mute listening appear to be replacing more gregarious activities.
Entrepreneurs such as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg have grounds to gush about online social intercourse. But if most of us are reluctant to take Friedrich Nietzsche's advice to "live dangerously," we might at least embrace Ecclesiastes' counsel to "eat drink and be merry". Evidence that 39% of British adults with internet access spend time social networking, and even more find company in the wireless, suggests we are failing abjectly.
These statistics expose phenomena beyond technological aptitude and fondness for fine broadcasting. Granted, there are happy online-networkers and audiophiles. But what if they are the minority? What if increasing attachment to screen and radio is a consequence of stress, loneliness and fear?
This theory cannot lightly be dismissed as a stab in the dark. More Britons live alone than ever before. Our fear of violent crime is intense and bears scant relation to actual danger. Financial worries are more acute than they have been for years. Our country is at war and our planet is on the critical list. Stress is at crisis levels among groups including teachers, police and civil servants and among commuters in all professions.
Before rejoicing in relationships with Bebo or MySpace and celebrating imaginary friends called the Archers, sentient types might pause for concern. If our fellow Brits are revelling in radio or using the web to arrange real interaction with old friends and new lovers then all is well. But is it likely that a nation so backward at coming forward has acquired new DNA?
Atomised, inverted, synthetic lives are poor substitutes for human warmth. Much online networking may really be nerdworking and radio-listening a poor substitute for flesh-and-blood company. Christmas is already a time for much sadness. Let us not to add to the burden by misrepresenting desperation as glee. Some of those social networkers are prisoners not volunteers. The technology may make their lives a little better, but it does not make them ideal. No more than speaking to the radio elicits a response.
