Inside a dark room, Peter Davis, 19, stares into the alluring glow of his computer monitor. Flashes of light explode from all over the screen as Davis stares intently at the action. A dull hum can be heard from the headset that Davis is wearing. The hum is not just music or game sound effects, but also the voices of five of his closest friends.

Although it would appear to the naked eye that Davis is experiencing intense isolationism, he is actually communicating with his best friends in a way that would be difficult were they hanging out in person. The internet acts as a tool, allowing the friends to talk endlessly while playing games for hours on end.

This is the use Davis and company have found for the internet, however, many young people use it to a lesser extent, capitalizing on Facebook and Twitter to stay connected to their otherwise distant friends.

The internet enables the kind of interaction Davis and his friends are experiencing. This is a kind of intercommunication that is becoming more and more common. Some worry it is replacing the face-to-face connection among many people, especially the young.

For many college age people, including Peter, video games make up a big chunk of their social time; “I spend most of my free time playing video games, so I don’t go out a lot. The internet complements my hobby, allowing me to socialize and play games with my friends,” explains Peter, 19, a computer science major from Levittown.

Many people use technology such as Skype, in addition to Facebook and Twitter, to seemingly replace the traditional face to face interaction that has been the staple of human synergy for eons.

Not everyone believes this is a bad thing. Dr. Robert Thompson of Syracuse University said, “The social interaction people have on Facebook and other internet venues is not always done at the expense of face-to-face social interaction. Many young people are engaging in social media activities at times and places when traditional social interaction wouldn’t have been possible, such as when it is late at night.”

Dr. Thomspon is a professor of media and mass communication at Syracuse University, at the Newhouse School of Public Communications. Dr. Thompson is an expert on popular culture.

Having friends separated by long distances is another reason for online chats.

One person experiencing the geographic disconnect is Penn State University sophomore Alex Mayor, 20, who said “I think the internet gives me a means of staying in touch with my friends who have moved around over the years. It’s like sitting in a living room just hanging out with them to me at this point.”

Another student, Bill Cassady, 20, a liberal arts major from Levittown attending Bucks explained the use in “keeping touch with friends and family. Even when people live far away, it allows us to easily stay in touch with them.”

When these friends do get together, they usually enjoy a night of various board games, pizza, and general camaraderie. The internet allows the camaraderie to extend into student’s day to day lives as they share video games and image macros as opposed to pizza and cold drink.

Cost plays an important factor in how college aged people choose to interact, even when those people aren’t in high school. “It’s much easier to sit in your own home and communicate as opposed to going out. I also go to college four hours away from my high school friends, so in order to talk to them regularly, I need to use it,” says William Bittner, 20, sophomore at Penn State University.

Not all professionals believe that the increased closed off interaction is not harmful. Kay Stahl, a professor of English at New York University, noted her feelings regarding less personal interaction. She said “I think it is potentially dangerous but I don’t believe that the largest danger is in crisis situations, such as suicide and crimes that tend to receive the most publicity. I believe the broader danger, although more subtle, is the detachment from intimacy with others closest to us. I believe it is in not being present in the environment that young people (and even their parents) are a part of.”

At the end of the night, five separate friends all turn off their computers. With a heavy hand and drooping eyelids, Davis rests his headset on top of the computer, and collapses into bed to rest for another night, likely to repeat the same steps the next day.