Isaac Asimov thought so. I recall reading a quote by him at one point about how air conditioning and television directly made cities (of which he was very fond) less safe and friendly places because people didn't stay outside to socialize with their neighbors and stay cool: they stayed inside.<p>"Night was a wonderful time in Brooklyn in the 1930s. Air conditioning was unknown except in movie houses, and so was television. There was nothing to keep one in the house. Furthermore, few people owned automobiles, so there was nothing to carry one away. That left the streets and the stoops. The very fullness served as an inhibition to crime."