Like most things, individual trends only show part of the pie, so to speak. A lot of the teens and 20's I work with prefer to communicate by text, rather than voice. They list a number of reasons: easier to understand, look at it later, a record of the conversation, it's faster. But I find on the flip side of their reasons a darker world: easier to understand but easier to offend or not get the meaning across. Looking at it later conveys a sense of "you're not important enough to take up my time". It's faster only if you really have nothing to say while complex communication takes far longer. It boiled down that they really wanted people in their life, but only on their own terms.
If the Brit study holds true, then it's an increase in the idea that my time is more important than your time, even when we're together in the most intimate of places. The less direct interaction means more control over someone else. And technology is really about our personal control of something, or someone, else.