Social Media -to be or not to be "social"

Myspace, facebook, twitter, google+, blogs, pinerest, linkedIn and these are just the ones I am on! I don't know about you, but I can hardly keep up! Oh, and don't forget, good ole fashion email. It almost seems weird to say that email is old fashion but it is after all over 15 years old. I actually now tell people to either fb me or send me a text. I don't even like getting on my email account anymore. Thank goodness for my Thunderbolt  phone to make everything accessible with a touch of the button, viola, checked fb, emailed and sent text messages!
So we call all of these things "Social Media" or "Social Networking" but is it really being sociable? I mean you really are just talking to your computer, not a real live human being. You might talk to a human being through your computer, but is that the same as having a real live conversation in person or even on the telephone?

Here are some definitions that I ironically of course googled for the word "Social".

• 1 relating to society or its organization.
  ■ relating to rank and status in society: a woman of high social standing.

• 2 needing companionship; suited to living in communities.

• 3 relating to or designed for activities in which people meet each other for pleasure. 

Of course you can use it as an adjective or as a noun.
Here is an interesting look at the word coming from Wikipedia:
The term Social refers to a characteristic of living organisms (humans in particular, though biologists also apply the term to populations of other animals). It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social

Dictionary.com also had some interesting definitions: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/social
As a journalist and communications person by default, "Social Media" has really changed the way I have to think, write and of course communicate. My new job that I started in September is basically keeping up with the Social Media for the organization. It seems crazy that I actually get paid to be on fb, twitter, blogs, youtube and other websites as part of my job. When people ask what I do, I say I do what I love! I really do love checking all these sites and seeing what is going on in the world. I have to admit, it sometimes can be information overload and really hurt my brain. But for the most part it is pretty cool!

Now back to the word "Social". If you look at the definition, "needing companionship or designed activites in which people meet each other for pleasure", I guess meeting on the internet via fb can be fun, but is it really being "Social"? I am not so sure that it is. While I love all of the people and connections I have been able to make via "Social Media", I don't find it very "Social" at all. Where is the companionship and relationships? While all of this new technology is great, at the same time it makes me a little sad. I want face to face conversations or to hear your voice over the phone. I want that human contact. That is what makes us feel alive. I miss the hand written letters and cards that come via "snail-mail" aka the post office. Seeing your friend's face, hearing their voice or even receiving a letter or card from them, you feel that human connection. When I am talking on the phone, just hearing the sound of their voice I feel connected because I can tell whether or not they are happy, sad, mad, or anything else that might be going on in their life. I always get a mental picture in my mind of what the person looks like and what they might be doing while I am talking to them. This helps me make that social connection.
Same thing if I receive a letter or card in the mail. Like just today I received a postcard from my friend Amanda from when she was on her honeymoon in Barcelona, Spain. Not only do I love looking at the pictures on the postcard, but I can imagine her there, and I can hear her voice in my head as I read the card. And that my friends is a social connection! I guess it kinda helps that I have been to Spain too, so I probably have a better image in my head. But all the same, as I am reading the postcard I feel the connection and really wish I could have been there with her. 

I by no means am saying that Social Media or Social Networking is bad. As I have stated before, I love my job and I love being on these sites. But at the same time, I don't think the word "Social" is the right adjective to describe these sites. Somebody just coined the phrase and now it has stuck. I just don't want people to loose that human connection to the word "social". Let's not forget that God did make us to be Social creatures, not creatures of the internet.
You tell me, how important is human connection to you? Don't you just sometimes want to talk to a real, live human being? Or see their actual face, not just their profile picture?