note 202

It is also an experience that many people share who communicate over longer periods of time with each other online, as the story of my friend who fell in love also illustrates in chapter 2. The meeting in natural presence affirms connections and relationships in a way that mediated presence never can. On the other hand, do people appreciate communicating via mediated presence because of the surpassing of boundaries of time and place, and also because in mediated presence communication has to be more focused. In my own experience I call this the "My dear diary - effect", which happens when one is alone in front of a screen, and which sometimes causes real intimate exchanges of communication in unexpected ways.