I'm sure they 'can'. The question is, will they?

This forum is indeed great, but this forum is one of a few thousand really good website 'islands' in a vast sea of superficial web nonsense. Also, although this website is useful in broadcasting information, it is one of many 'pseudo communities' that the web offers - by which I mean that it's a community of folks who, by and large, never meet each other, never go out for drinks or a meal, etc. Such places are in effect, substituting a muted form of interaction for the real thing. And that's fine for folks like me, who can only take so much in-person social interaction. But even I sometimes feel places like this can easily take people away from more fulfilling social places.

In the OPs pdf link I notice that two of the six non-headshot-collage photos used show people very alone, essentially shut off from the world around them (a veil of hair or dark glasses shutting folks out), and interacting with an iPhone. The implication being that folks are deeply mired in their technology while they're on the subway or in a cafe, or in a pub. I'm just not so sure that's "social interaction". If it is, it doesn't seem all that social - or socially fulfilling.