Routledge Handbook of Digital Media and Communication

21All the lonely people?

The continuing lament about the loss of community

Keith N. Hampton and Barry Wellman^*

*A version of this paper, significantly revised, updated, and expanded here, was previously published as: Hampton, K., and Wellman, B. (2018). Lost and Saved . . . Again: The Moral Panic About the Loss of Community Takes Hold of Social Media. Contemporary Sociology, 47(6), 643–651.

“All the lonely people: where do they all come from?” the Beatles wondered, singing in particular about Eleanor Rigby (Lennon & McCartney, 1965). When we look back, we find that many generations – perhaps each generation – have feared that community has disappeared (Image 21.1). The most recent examples can be found in the response that commentators have ...