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year old son, might be one where I say something like, "Hey, when are you headed home?" Worse still, in order to save space, it could have been more like "when r u headed H?" or, "whats ur eta?" Not very deep, I admit. But fast, easy, and functional as we've built and understand the same lexicon over time.

However, his response might be, "within the hour" or, "shortly". The communication may end there. Consider that in this, I had queried my interest, he in turn had answered succinctly. Otherwise, I would have called him and verbally asked him, then he would have responded. We would have spent some time with hello, how you doing, etc., following an ingrained, patterned interactional format for phone intercourse work.

Whereas, in the text scenario it was quicker, more to the point, and we could quickly move on in our busy day, almost not even breaking a stride on whatever we were doing at the time just prior to the initiation of the communication.

On the other hand, we actually do spend more time teching each other: sending pictures, bantering, kidding each other; sharing information such as, "hey, saw a cool movie, you should check it out, its called The Man From Earth" (on Verizon, you can send long messages if you're both "in network").

And so he responds, "Cool".

He now has a new movie to check out, and he has a record of its title on his phone; he knows that I think enough of him to have shared the information with him; he responded with an acknowledgment that indicates to me his acceptance of that information and a possible promise to check it out; and he exhibits an appreciation of my care for him, as well indicating his appreciation for that attention. On top of that, we both now know about it, whereas in previous to digital technology years, I most likely would have forgotten to ever mention it to him.

So, is it possible that in this finite and brief communication, there really is more going on than at first seems obvious? That these detached, shallow individual communications, really are an indicator of much care for one another? Isn't it said that a picture is worth a thousand words? What does that say when someone cares enough about you, to send you a digital image of something they just shot on their cell phone? Like once again, my son, sending me an image of his girlfriend's car, when she had over shot a turn on our dirt road, spinning into a ditch (no one was harmed, other than her pride and some of the body work).

Maybe, just maybe all this "teching" to one another isn't leaving us to be so isolated and detached after all. In a world that puts us so physically unavailable to one another, so busy, isn't it just possible that it actually is bringing us much closer together? Helping us to maintain much closer ties with friends and loved ones, and a helping us to build tighter bonds than would have ever before been possible?

Think about it. Then "tech" about it to a friend of yours and see what they have to say.

Learn more about this author, JZ Murdock.
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