Most of us learn to manage our online time and our "real world" obligations. Part of the lure of the Internet is the instant gratification. Within a matter of minutes, we can send flowers to an ailing friend, check the weather report and get more information about our sprained ankle.

In the "real world," these errands take far more time, and they can involve interacting with "real people" who may not view attending to our errands as their top priority. (They have their own Internet searching and blogging to attend to, after all.)

The irony of all of this gadgetry is that it's made it so easy for human beings to connect that we sometimes don't know how to interact face to face, or we don't place the same premium on personal contact, because we can always catch up via e-mail or by reading our friends' MySpace pages. I do these things, too, but I'm beginning to believe this isn't building community; it's keeping the important people in our lives at an arm's length.

Call me a Luddite, but these things are poor substitutes for real human contact.

Marjorie Cortez, who remembers a life before our culture's incessant need for instant gratification, is a Deseret News editorial writer. E-mail her (in moderation) at marjorie@desnews.com