Data is real, but less real than a rock.

Last week I read Rheingold’s first chapter, “The Heart of the Well,” about how real feelings can be communicated through virtual mediums. To be sure, I agree that real communication occurs through virtual mediums, but at the same time, what is being communicated virtually is different that what is being communicated when I talk to someone in person. This explains some of the problems that the younger generation of Japanese are currently faced with, according to a recent Studio 360 radio program.
The Studio 360 program interviewed Japanese citizens who purported three main problems with the Japanese youth, as a result of pervasive technology: extreme social withdraw, snapping (violent outbursts), and suicide. Technology is blamed for this because the younger generation gets all of their pleasure from virtual worlds, which makes them unable to handle the real world. I wonder what is it that is being communicated when we use virtual mediums? What is left out when we use virtual mediums? Will virtual communication ever develop so that it equals real communication? Or is that impossible, because virtual and real are by definition different?

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