Periodically, the question of navel-gazing arises. Steven Hodson thinks that technologists have a little too much “sense of self importance”; Media Influencer thinks that’s just “another example of off-line type of thinking.”

I think they’re both right, depending on the time scale you’re thinking in.

The printing press had a tremendous impact on the world…but it took decades and decades for the effects to start to permeate society in a significant way. Nowadays, it feels like people’s vision is limited to maybe a year or two.

On the time scale of a year or two, none of this stuff matters in the large. MySpace won’t cure cancer. Twitter won’t stop wars. They matter in the small — witness the online means of coping with the Virginia Tech massacre. On a short time scale like this, Mr. Hodson is spot-on: lots and lots and lots of people care not a whit to Twit. Heck, if I tried to explain Twitter to municipal governments, civil engineers, and the like, they’d think I’d gone stark raving mad.

Over decades, there’s little question in my mind that the Internet and its descendants will have an impact on par with the printing press. Cheap and easy global N-way near-real-time communication has way too much potential. On that time scale, Mr. Hodson’s complaints may well fall apart, as it’s likely the Internet will permeate to levels that most people will use, such as new ways of interacting with elected officials, educating children (and adults!), and collaborating on problem-solving.

It’s all a question of time.

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