Distance Is Not Dead: Social Interaction and Geographical Distance in the Internet Era

TL;DR

Despite the internet enabling global communication, physical proximity remains crucial for social interactions, with local ties increasing in importance and electronic communication volume decreasing with distance, following a Power Law.

Contribution

The paper challenges the notion that the internet diminishes the importance of geographic proximity, showing it actually enhances local social interactions.

Findings

Electronic communication volume decreases with distance following a Power Law.

Physical proximity's importance in social interactions has increased post-internet revolution.

Local social ties are more significant than previously assumed in the internet era.

Abstract

The Internet revolution has made long-distance communication dramatically faster, easier, and cheaper than ever before. This, it has been argued, has decreased the importance of geographic proximity in social interactions, transforming our world into a global village with a borderless society. We argue for the opposite: while technology has undoubtedly increased the overall level of communication, this increase has been most pronounced for local social ties. We show that the volume of electronic communications is inversely proportional to geographic distance, following a Power Law. We directly study the importance of physical proximity in social interactions by analyzing the spatial dissemination of new baby names. Counter-intuitively, and in line with the above argument, the importance of geographic proximity has dramatically increased with the internet revolution.