Facebook: Connecting us or not?

You know, facebook is supposed to be for "connecting" with people, but sometimes I wonder if it really is effective in doing that. Sometimes I feel like it is actually more effective "disconnecting" us from each other than connecting us. It seems like the very nature of facebook encourages "me-ness" (isolating oneself in one's own little me-bubble world, updating personal statuses, uploading photos, creating the perfect profile, all with the hopes that online friends will see our profile and up our popularity score).  But in all honesty, all that "updating" has the potential to make us less prone to reach out to others in meaningful ways. And because of the digital nature of facebook, we might be more inclined to think it's ok to "ignore" someone's message because it is less confronting and doesn't seem as "real" of an interaction. This can disconnect us from others even further. I'm not saying that facebook is destroying the world, but it's definitely influencing the way we interact with others, which can be in a negative way I think, if we let it.