for the stapler or whatever. In this system, by design perhaps, there was .
little eye contact, and the rest of the team was almost as anonymous as the .
people whose web pages they wrote up. (288-9) .
The above example shows one of the disadvantages of the excessive use of technology. It .
causes destruction to interpersonal relationships. Sociologists and psychologists would .
suggest that face to face communication is crucial in building relationships. We are all .
living as a group in a community. No single one of us, indeed, no men in this world is an .
independent entity. We must have some sort of relationships with the others. It is .
necessary for us to interact with each other in some ways or another. .
Yes, it is true that with the advanced technological improvements, people are able .
to communicate with their families and friends through electronic mails or through the .
web. And somehow it makes communications easier and much more efficiently. But what .
I want to focus on is the direct interaction among people. We have to interact directly .
with the others to express our feelings, emotions. People chat with one another and share .
laughter, they can use gestures and body language to show what they think and let the .
others understand them. These are the tasks that can not be accomplished by computers .
or any other machines. So, how can we expect a non-living thing can reveal human's .
emotions as exactly the same way as face-to-face encounters? Let's take this little story .
as an illustration, if you were staying in a hospital because of some illness, one of your .
friends sent you a greeting card via E-mail, while another friend visited you in person .
with a bunch of flower. Which one would you appreciate more? .
Human languages do not limit lives, they expand them and open up new .
possibilities of human contact. Technology should be developed to augment physical, .
hands-on learning, face-to-face encounters, not to replace it.