Wired-weary youth seek face time

He joined Facebook as a way to meet people before he started school, but also quickly learned that it had limitations, too.

"I discovered, after meeting many of these (online) friends, that a good Facebook profile could make even the most boring person somewhat interesting," says Miller, who's 19 and now a sophomore.

He's also not always thrilled with text messaging via cell phones, which can be a quick way to say "have a good day" or to coordinate a plan to meet up at a noisy concert.

"Text messaging has become the easy way out," Miller says.

He's had friends cancel a night out with a text message to avoid having to explain. He's also seen some people ask for dates via text to escape the humiliation of hearing a "no" on the phone or in person.

"Our generation needs to get over this fear of confrontation and rejection," he says.

The focus, he and others say, needs to be on quality communication, in all formats.

Back in Iowa, Henderson is enjoying spending more face-to-face time with his friends and less with his computer. He says his decision to quit MySpace and Facebook was a good one.

"I'm not sacrificing friends," he says, "because if a picture, some basic information about their life and a Web page is all my friendship has become, then there was nothing to sacrifice to begin with."

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