Professor Barry Wellman of the University of Toronto in Canada has invented a term to describe the way many North Americans interact （互动） these days. The term is “networked individualism”. This concept is not easy to understand because the words seem to have opposite meanings. How can we be individuals （个体） and be networked at the same time? You need other people for networks.
Here is what Professor Wellman means. Before the invention of the Internet and e-mail, our social networks included live interactions with relatives, neighbors, and friends. Some of the interaction was by phone, but it was still voice to voice, person to person, in real time.
A recent research study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project showed that for a lot of people, electronic interaction through the computer has replaced this person-to- person interaction. However, a lot of people interviewed for the Pew study say that’s a good thing. Why?
In the past, many people were worried that the Internet isolated （孤立） us and caused us to spend too much time in the imaginary world of the computer. But the Pew study discovered that the opposite is true. The Internet connects us with more real people than expected — helpful people who can give advice on careers, medical problems, raising children, and choosing a school or college. About 60 million Americans told Pew that the Internet plays an important role in helping them make major life decisions.
Thanks to the computer, we are able to be alone and together with other people — at the same time!

加拿大多伦多大学的教授巴芮.威曼发明了一条用来描述当今北美人互动方式的词条：“网络个人主义”。该词条的概念不太容易理解，因为它要表达的意思似乎相反，我们怎么来理解即个人主义，又同时在网络上连通呢？你网络连通需要其他的人在线啊。
教授威曼的意思是这样的：在发明英特网和伊妹儿之前，我们的社会联络指的是与亲戚、邻居和朋友件的交互作用，其中的一些交互作用是通过电话，但只是实时的声音对声音，人对人的交流。
一项最近的由Pew Internet网络公司与美国生活工程公司联合进行的研究表明，对于很多人而言，通过计算机的电子互动已经取代了这种人与人之间的互动，然而，许多接受Pew Internet网络公司调查的人表示，这是件好事。为什么？
过去，许多人担心英特网会孤立我们，使我们在计算机的虚拟世界里花太多的时间，但Pew Internet网络公司的研究发现的结果正相反。英特网将我们与比我们能期待的还要多的真实的人联在了一起——一些有用的人，他们能给你就职业、医药、孩子的养育以及学校的选择等方面提供建议。约有6千万美国人告诉Pew Internet网络公司，在他们的大的生活决策方面，英特网起到了重要的帮助作用。
感谢计算机，使我们能够独处的同时，与其他的人在一起。