Face to face

Source: Wired

Even though technology makes it possible to live and act remotely from each other, what's interesting, Tim Hartford points out, is that…we don't. Most of us live in cities. And "the highest-tech industries are the most dependent on geography." One study found that more than half of all US-based commercial innovations came from just three areas: California, New York/New Jersey and Massachusetts.

Harvard economist Ed Glaeser, "argues that communications technology and face-to-face interactions are complements like salt and pepper, rather than substitutes like butter and margarine." So, "paradoxically, your cell phone, email, and Facebook networks are making it more attractive to meet people in the flesh." One study even shows that the most productive workers are those that use email to communicate not with people from all around the world…but with those they see all the time.