Texting and social media doesn't make me into a recluse but helps me reach out to more like me........

The Sunday San Antonio Express News editorial page shows a man sitting on a park bench tapping out a message: "Do u think texting and twittering further erode our ability 2 have face-to-face human contact?" he writes to the woman on the bench.

To which she replies:  "What's human contact?"

While this cartoon made me laugh out loud, I believe that the person who drew it is wrong. 

Yes, texters and Twitterverse inhabitants can sometimes avoid human contact as we blog, use Twitter or check our Linkedin pages.  Yet, for me these social media tools have put me into contact with people I never would have encountered.  

As a somewhat social, outgoing people, it's helped me connect with people I never would have met if it wasn't for these forums.   In nine days, I am going to speak at the San Antonio chapter of the International Association of Microsoft Certified Professionals on the "ROI of social media."  One of my messages for this talk will deal with the fact that social media tools has made my networking expand beyond the usual encounters at networking events for chambers of commerces.  Just like those events, I can screen out some people like the financial services people who press their card on me and then want to go into a 10-minute spiel on their company's products.

So, texting and social media hasn't made me into an online Trappist monks.  Instead, it has helped me reach out to more people.