JoB, I agree. I have so much more contact with my niece and nephews, not to mention my older brother and step-sister who live in Illinois, as well as friends from high school and my time in the Army who I had completely lost contact with. Yeah, it can be a HUGE time-suck; we have lots of those things in our lives, but at least it is interactive as opposed to passive, like teevee. I feel it is sort of like our virtual town-square.
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It is REALLY fun to get on to the various political discussion sights and raise a little hell. Just last month I got booted from the Federalist Papers page because I suggested that the President who was in office and ignored warnings of an imminent attack before 9/11, and who was in office during the anthrax attacks immediately following 9/11, actually DIDN'T keep us safe during his Presidency (See: glaring evidence). Bunch of tools who really only want a wrong-wing echo chamber.
It is also a good place to keep track of AFP and other anti-American activists, who actually BRAG about their subversive actions on their pages.