You appear online as a Facebook profile. A Twitter feed. A LinkedIn page.

Somehow, those lines of code and that stream of data (that you don't always have control over) become how people define you.

Isn't there something wrong with that?

There are parts of me, of everyone, that will never be translated through static text on a web page. The way a person truly listens when you speak, or the way their eyes light up and their speech quickens when they tell you a story, or something as simple as the smile they flash when they hear something witty. Those aren't things you find in someone's "activities" or "likes" or 200 character bio.

What is this obsession with "knowing" someone online? Have we really not yet come to the conclusion that it does not work that way? That who I am online does not equate to spending five minutes with me in person?

As communication becomes more and more digital, there is discussion of a growing distance between people. As connected as we are, or as we can be, truly knowing a person seems like a luxury.