Coupling

Come out upon my seas
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I part of the cure?
Or am I part of the disease?
--Coldplay

In networking theory, coupling is the extent to which nodes are connected. The 'tighter' the coupling, generally, the greater the influence that one node has on another.

Socially, coupling can be viewed as the extent to which people are connected to each other. Using a Facebook friends analogy, someone with 500 friends is more tightly coupled than someone with five friends.

Tightening one's coupling has some benefits. It satisfies human needs for friendship and relationship building. It can broaden perspective and provide quick access to news and information.

Tighter coupling also has drawbacks. It is more difficult to think for oneself due to frequent exposure to thoughts of others. It reduces time and attention that can be allocated to personal matters. It makes people more subject to influence and control by others.

Social networking technology has made it easy for people to increase their degree of coupling. It also seems likely that this technology has increased the likelihood that many people are more tightly coupled to their environments than they should be.