In an age of perpetual digital connectedness, why do people seem so disconnected In a Duke University study, researchers found that from 1985 to 2004, the percentage of people who said there was no one with whom they discussed important matters tripled, to 25%; the same study found that overall, Americans had one-third fewer friends and confidants than they did two decades ago.
Another recent study, by researchers at the University of Michigan, found that college students today have significantly less empathy than students of generations past did. The reason, psychologists speculate, may have something to do with our increasing reliance on digital communication and other forms of new media.
It’s possible that instead of fostering real friendships off-line, e-mail and social networking may take the place of them—and the distance inherent in screen-only interactions may breed feelings of isolation or a tendency to care less about other people. After all, if you don’t feel like dealing with a friend’s problem online, all you have to do is log off.
The problem is, as empathy wanes, so does trust. And without trust, you can’t have a cohesive society. Consider the findings of a new study co-authored by Kevin Rockmann of George Mason University and Gregory Northcraft at the University of Illinois who specializes in workplace collaboration. Northcraft says high-tech communications like e-mail and (to a lesser extent) videoconferencing—which are sometimes known as "lean communication" because they have fewer cues like eye contact and posture for people to rely on—strip away the personal interaction needed to breed trust. In a business setting—as in all other social relationships outside the workplace—trust is a necessary condition for effective cooperation within a group. "Technology has made us much more efficient but much less effective," said Northcraft in a statement. "Something is being gained, but something is being lost. The something gained is time, and the something lost is the quality of relationships. And quality of relationships matters."
In Rockmann and Northcraft’s study, 200 students were divided into teams and asked to manage two complicated projects: one having to do with nuclear disarmament; the other, price fixing. Some groups communicated via e-mail, some via videoconference and others face to face. In the end, those who met in person showed the most trust and most effective cooperation; those using e-mail were the least able to work together and get the job done.
Northcraft thinks this is because real-life meetings, during which participants can see how engaged their colleagues are, breed more trust. Over e-mail, meanwhile, confirmation of hard work gets lost, which tends to encourage mutual slacking off.
The study of interpersonal relations by Duke University reveals that（）
A. people become too introverted to talk about personal matters
B. people tend not to be empathetic
C. people may feel more isolated than they did before
D. people prefer online communication with others
参考答案：C
解析：
[试题类型] 推理引申题。
[解题思路] 根据题干关键词the study和Duke University可定位至文章第一段。该段首句指出，在数字互联时代，人际关系反而不密切了(people seem so disconnected)，接着作者用一组数字证明此观点：认为没有人可以与自己商量重要事情的人数与二十年前相比增长了两倍(people who said...tripled)，同时，朋友和知己的人数减少了三分之一(Americans had one-third fewer friends and confidants than they did...)。由此可见，与以前相比，现在人们的人际关系生疏了，朋友少了，因此“人们感觉比以前更孤单了，选项[C]正确。
[干扰排除] 原文第二句提到“声称没有人同自己商量重要事情的人数增长了两倍”，但这并不是因为人们变得很内向(introverted)，而只是没有人去讨论重要问题，选项[A]是对这句话的曲解。选项[B]的含义为“现在的人们变得没有同情心”，这一观点在第二段有所提及，但并不是杜克大学的研究揭示的内容。选项[D]意为“现在人们倾向于用网络跟他人进行交流”，这一观点在第一段介绍杜克大学的研究中也没有提及。