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One of the new challenges we face today is the way in which digital communication affects our social interactions. More frequently, young people are developing social anxiety and a more amplified sense of loneliness. Although digital communication and social media can be a helpful tool and a fun way to connect, it offers a way for people to judge themselves in relation to others in a more “quantified” way than before; meaning that one could compare themselves to others on the basis of how many friends they have on social media and the kinds of pictures they post presenting a more exciting version of themselves.
I believe if Thoreau was to see the ways in which face-to-face social interactions has actually taken a hit as a result of digital communication, that he may change his mind about his statement that “a man’s value is not in his skin.” This statement was said in relation of the superficiality of social interaction and how it does not make one feel less lonely. Although, he is seen as rather cynical when speaking about people, I think he has a point about how being physically close to people does not decrease one’s loneliness. However, I believe if he were to see the way in which we communicate today he would perhaps soften towards the idea of face-to-face interaction over communicating digitally as these days we have deprived ourselves of the kind of human intimacy we experience when we make eye contact with each other and try to verbalize our feelings and express them with our voices.
If we follow Thoreau’s cynicism however, then it is possible that he would say that digital communication has become the new medium in which people translate their already superficial attitudes towards social interactions, which would be valid if we did not discover that our use of digital communication has contributed to making face-to-face interaction more difficult and as well as made us less in touch with each other than we already were before.

To play devil's advocate, however, wouldn't Thoreau have preferred this digital age? If Thoreau considered that face to face interaction still resulted in loneliness, then wouldn't it just be easier to interact online? An argument could be made that since the digital age provides more opportunity for communication, it provides more opportunity for not feeling lonely. If that is true, then Thoreau may have liked it, as relationships fostered in the digital age have the potential to be more personal (you can contact someone at any time of day, it takes the pressure off of face to face interactions.)

Or, perhaps, he would be disgusted with what human interaction has come to.