Depends on the level of isolation and the person's need for socialization, I'd say. Most of that stuff is perfectly possible in a small town where kids can walk to school, bike to each other's houses, and grow up together with neighbor kids. In my case, I remember playing around with that kind of stuff but it's difficult (and dangerous, depending on who you ask) for a kid to grow up alone, isolated from other children. I'm not advocating for every kid to grow up in Manhattan -- I just think every kid should have the chance to make friends and experience childhood with those friends on their own terms. It's not very conducive for a kid to have to beg Mom or Dad to drive them every time they want to see a friend, and while the Internet/phones allow kids to play video games and chat with each other, I don't think we'll ever reach feature parity with reality.
