I hear you, I too wanted to idealize online communication. I have been a member on reddit for 7 years, I wanted to believe it is the new way. But...
With computers, kids wall themselves from a lot of other activities like: riding a bike (ours sit in the garage for weeks), going to the library, meeting with friends IRL, painting, playing music - any and all of a 100 things we did as we grew up.
IRL interaction forces them to get out of their bubble. They shouldn't learn to run away from things they don't like so early in life.
With computers, kids wall themselves from a lot of other activities like: riding a bike (ours sit in the garage for weeks), going to the library, meeting with friends IRL, painting, playing music - any and all of a 100 things we did as we grew up.
IRL interaction forces them to get out of their bubble. They shouldn't learn to run away from things they don't like so early in life.