Our sense of community may be destroyed as new media and technology create a social gap.

An upcoming book, “Interpersonal Divide: The Search for Community in a Technological Age,” addresses the concern of people spending too much time in virtual communities rather than in actual communities. Its author, Michael Bugeja, is the director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication.

In order to study the effect media and technology have on the sense of community, Bugeja considers several viewpoints: global, ethical, philosophical, pop culture and sociological factors.

The book examines how past generations coped with the cultural changes brought about by new technology such as the printing press, telegraph, television and the Internet. It also looks at how the human condition and global village are impacted by media and technology.

“Interpersonal Divide” explores how technology has harmed face-to-face communication.

Bugeja said face-to-face communication is an important part of journalism, but now the use of e-mail and cell phones may have harmed that communication.

“Media and technology has taken us out of our homes and workplaces and put us in another community — a virtual one,” Bugeja said.

The technology that is supposed to give us more leisure time to spend with our families, friends and associates has “blurred the line between home and work,” Bugeja said.

These new technologies were, in some ways, meant to enhance personal relationships, Bugeja said. Also, Bugeja said he believes some of these gadgets may cause people to feel more isolated from their communities and other personal relationships because so much time is spent in the virtual world.

“Technology needs to be put in its rightful place — enhancing human relationships, not replacing human relationships,” Bugeja said.

Technology may make us feel secure in our homes, workplaces and schools, Bugeja said, but they “have been the source of ill feelings because of the blurring of the line between what is real and what is virtual.”

Not everyone agrees with the idea that new technology will isolate individuals from interpersonal relationships.

Mark Redmond, associate professor of English, said he doesn’t believe technology will harm people’s relationships with each other.

For instance, Redmond said that playing virtual games brings people together to interact, even if it is through a computer. Games and virtual communities are “building relationships that otherwise wouldn’t occur,” Redmond said.

He said friendships can form in these online or virtual communities like normal relationships; they’re just not face-to-face.

“The development of those relationships are as valuable as those of face-to-face,” Redmond said.

Bugeja said he thinks it’s important that students are aware of the impression technology and media have on society. Each chapter of his book contains discussion and paper ideas as well as journal exercises and other suggested reading.