How much do we value face to face interaction?

Depends on the person on the other end.

There's people who only answer back in short one-word-answers IRL and online.
Those people who aren't able/willing to keep up a conversation are usually the problem why conversations don't happen. Not the medium you're using to talk to them.

... though. I am totally guilty of the one-word-answer-syndrome myself since I'm just not the chatty type IRL, especially with strangers.
 
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When you are communicating through text you can edit and curate what you are saying. This is safe. You can read and re-read what you just wrote to make sure nothing bad can be taken from it. However this also means higher standards for communication which means more self-curation. Now you go to face-to-face conversations, or even conversations over the phone, and you loose the ability to self-curate. People who have become comfortable with text will suddenly loose all of that and a regular conversation will be uncomfortable.
 
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Most people have vidfones in their pocket now. It's the future. Someone in Argentina can have a face-to-face conversation with someone in China 19,996 kilometres or 12,425 miles away. "Face to face" is no longer synonymous with "in real life"
 
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Mariposa Colorado said:
I need face to face contact.I like being alone, sure, but when I get lonely, and I do... I def need the face to face contact. It makes me feel better connected.
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Interestingly, some research into PTSD has indicated that people may not get nearly as many benefits from social media interaction as they do face to face contact.
 

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mr.moon1488 said:
Interestingly, some research into PTSD has indicated that people may not get nearly as many benefits from social media interaction as they do face to face contact.
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It probably depends on the nature of the face to face interaction, and the relationship itself. It can also be very traumatic.

Anyway it seems like most of the people who answered this OP, and the OP himself, have some sort of mild Social Anxiety Disorder. Not a condemnation, just an observation.

Me personally, I find face to face interaction to be very draining. I usually enjoy talking to people at the moment, but then often there is some misunderstanding, or I feel like there was. Or the whole thing is exhausting for other reasons that I can't get into, bcs. nobody wants to hear about it ATM.

OP, you are not the only one who likes face to face interaction. Most people, actually, are normal. Average in every way. Most of the folks you get to know online are outliers, in many ways. Including, having the level of literacy and expressive language capacity to participate in forums like these. Not snowflakes or narcissists etc, but people seeking something that face to face communication can't readily facilitate.

I have been following some of your posts, and you might flourish more if you put away the electronic devices and got out of the house and met some like-minded people. A good therapist can also help. But if the therapy feels uncomfortable, than leave.
 
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I actually really value face to face communication more than online.

So much context is missing from text based communication; facial macro and micro expressions, body language shifts, pupil dilation, direction of gaze, tone/pitch of voice, talking speed, etc are important cues that are lost when you’re not talking to someone face to face. I think of it like a real life puzzle and it’s interesting to see how those things differ from person to person. In that way, face to face communication is so much more important to me because it’s interesting.
 
Face to face interaction is by far the easiest way to tell if someone is being true and genuine in their intentions and speech.
It's also the easiest way to tell if someone, regardless of their sex, has an interest greater than friendship in mind.
Plus, physical interaction, touch, etc, is a generally good gauge of interest in you.
 
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