A missing sense of communication tools

In an inspiring conversation regarding long distance communication with a Korean student studying in The Netherlands. This student recounted a conversation that she had with her father over phone on the day of Korean new years. In the conversation her father asked her to bow from the Netherlands towards her parents located in Korea (it is a tradition of new year’s ritual in Korea).

What was surprising and also inspiring is that this Korean student actually did not know the direction of her home in Korea from the Netherlands. After this conversation, I asked several people who live away from their country (each of them were from a different country in Europe or Asia). A common finding was that most students could not indicate which direction their home or country was located. What was even more interesting was that when I indicated which direction their country was located in relation to the Netherlands, for all the students it brought a positive emotional affect.

This latter finding made me question the emotional capabilities of the technology of communication tools such as the phone and Skype. You can experience voice (sound) and even face to face interaction (sight) through a computer screen. However, there is no experience in recognising how far (distance) or in what cardinal direction you are from the person/people you are talking to.

An important design insight that is inspired from these findings is that current long distance communication tools are missing some experiential qualities such as direction and distance that can also bring an emotional affect to people living away from their family and hometown. What this can also suggest is that if a person requires a sentimental reassurance that they are emotionally connected to a desired place or person then a long distance communication tool can facilitate this experience without the need for direct communication between people to people.