The "alone in the crowd" is an often-discussed phenomenon in crushing modern cultures. The wireless-wired-version is only the latest. It's not less of an option now to have alone time: just takes more courage. ...and maybe the wisdom to perceive the diminishing value of "friends" when they are counted in thousands.

An ironic impact may be the effect of elevating the "wheat" of those willing to claim their need for alone "downtime" to achieve the introverted productivity in which tasks such as hacking thrive - above the chaff of those who cannot bear to miss any social chatter (sorry, I meant 'twitter').

As my yoga teacher liked to say, "Solitude is the price of greatness."