does technology isolate us or unite us?

Clearly it unites us. We both needed a piece of technology to access this website to post our question and our answer. Think of online gaming as well, think of talking to your Mother who lives thousands of miles away via Skype, think about sending an email to your deployed relative, think about the connection...

Both. It isolates us in the sense of physically being and interacting with people, but it unites us in terms of connectivity.

Technology unites us in the endless quest to organize, analyze the effects, and control and limit access to information. Before 'technology' information might have been published on endless scraps of paper free to disseminate where ever inspections and inspectors might overlook, however with 'technology' the source of the information and its access is so easily manipulated, restricted and completely controlled so as to almost require an utter unification of thought, ideals, and purpose. We, people using and dependent on technology, are increasingly limited by our increasing abilities. (As an aside, I often wonder how many contemporarily popular movies use antique memory methods, such as Nazi Germany's experiments with flashing slogans in movie theaters, too fast to be consciously recognized--but not so fast that the subsconscious mind would not read and then embrace each such slogan and in particular, the concept presented, as an idea of the individual.) It would be terribly simple to tag characters and plot development to add 'electronic richness' to a movie presentation and might well add to its success. But that was antique direct consciousness manipulation, what is available now to the movie producers?

When the wheel (a form of technology) was invented, it divided us so that we no longer needed to travel in packs for survival and it united us in that it allowed us to intermingle with others (who also once needed to travel in packs for survival.) This happens with any new technology that comes down the pipe of the human species - it divides us from a past behavior and connects us to a future behavior. Isolation is an extreme form of division and I think it is caused more by your environment - geography, population density, social relations - than by technology. All a technology does is take us on a ride to the next level of human progress. And new technology is as unavoidable as the thought of no longer having the wheel is preposterous.

It unites us. This is because general life has become a lot more organized and easier because of it.

Technology unites us. With the power of social media and the internet we can connect globally in way that wasn't possible before. Now I do have to admit that it does take away some from face to face interaction. A lot of people will connect with Facebook versus actually going to see the person.

Overall though I would have to say connect!

When used PROPERLY, Technology can unite us & allow us to help assist our fellow humans.

Technology is allowing us to answer each others questions on this very site after all. This site is an example of how technology unites us.

It all boils down to the intent of the person using technology that makes technology positive or negative.