DallasNews.com | News for Dallas, Texas | Opinion: Balance of Opinion

DallasNews.com | News for Dallas, Texas | Opinion: Balance of Opinion Ellen Goodman writes:
" I remember the AT&T ads that encouraged people to "reach out and touch someone." Our generation learned to touch by touch tone. We were sold on the notion that a phone call is nearly as reassuring as a hand.
Now we hardly notice how the language of emotion and technology have been entwined. We 'keep in touch' via cellphones. We "connect" over the Internet. We 'see' each other over videophones. Technology has made it easier ­ and perhaps more likely ­ to live apart. So we create more and more technological fixes for the human fix we are in: distance from people we love."

It's an interesting article about the imporatance of real communication/presence over telecommunication and virtual presence. I would have to agree that there's no good substitute for the real thing. Yet, I would argue that having alternative ways of enhancing remote communication does not cheapen our experience, but rather, enhances remote communication. Remote communication is something that is not going to go away. The alternative to enhancing remote communication could be a far lesser experience "nothing, no contact".
Remote telepresence is really the key to allowing a person to share their presence with people they want to be there for, but cannot due to constraints of time and money... I think the concerns about cheapening the experience are misdirected, as at least an experience is better than no experience at all.