It used to be that the commons was the public area specifically designated for interaction. People met, of course, throughout the city, but the commons was... well, Dictionary.com tell us that the commons was:
A tract of land, usually in a centrally located spot, belonging to or used by a community as a whole.As such, the commons had a number of accepted rules that governed the interactions that transpired there, and people clearly understood that they were expected to present themselves in public differently than they would while within the confines of their own homes. Sometimes these were politically governed laws of behavior, and at others socially accepted conventions - such as dressing differently than one would at home. This differentiation has been in decline in western society for a couple of generations at least. It wasn't caused by the internet, but the internet has added a new dimension to the problem. If internet technologies allow us to interact with others without stepping out of our homes, how are we able to distinguish between our behaviors in the social and in the private spheres. Paradoxically the internet has expanded our possibilities of social interaction, yet at the same time has made these interactions seemingly private and even intimate.