My family spent the weekend in Indianapolis at a reunion of my father’s side of the family. It was the first time I had seen many of them in over 20 years. I don’t have my usual list of great restaurants or sites we saw, because we spent the entire time at the homes of our cousins.

There were so many people, I could not spend quality time one-on-one with everyone, but when I did, I heard interesting stories and shared hearty laughs. I am so happy to have rediscovered so many family members.

On the way back, I got to thinking about family and technology. With all of the great advances in travel and technology, why had it been so long since I had seen most of these family members?

Are people just that busy all of the time that we cannot get away? Is it about priorities? Money? Vacation time from work?

Then I started rethinking it. Maybe technology is to blame from a different perspective. Although I hadn’t seen these people, I felt I knew all of them through the magic of Facebook and emails. I had seen the graduations, births, marriages and all other big events in their lives.

Could one of the reasons for not getting together sooner be that we all feel like we are together? Does Facebook, Skype and other such technological gizmos bridge the gap so much that actual personal contact isn’t as important?

I don’t have the answers, but I would love to hear what you think.

— John Wroblewski, online contributor