So the author takes a group of 19-20 year olds and tasks them with a project which: a) asks them to converse in forced manner with someone they do not know, and then b) explicitly record themselves doing so. I don't know very many people, of any age, that could pull off a natural conversation in these conditions.

Then, instead of recognizing the flawed experiment, he decides to blame the results on "newfangled technology" and the like.

This whole article just wreaks of a "kids these days" post with no substance.