Today, we can do everything online—meetings, business, even dinners with friends from miles away. But there’s one thing technology can’t replicate: the magic of a face-to-face encounter.
Albert Mehrabian, a psychologist at the University of California, reminds us that 93% of communication is nonverbal. This means that when we speak, what really matters isn’t just our words but how we say them—the tone of our voice, our body language, our facial expressions. And all of that is lost on a video call.
It’s not just about the words, either. Alex Pentland, a researcher at MIT, has shown that people who meet in person build more trust and make better decisions. Our brains are wired to pick up on subtle cues—a hesitation in the gaze, the firmness of a handshake, even the rhythm of one’s breathing. These signals help us truly understand who we’re dealing with.
There’s another key point: with deepfakes and advanced AI, we can now fake videos, photos, documents, and even entire digital identities. How can we be sure who we’re really interacting with online? Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman argues that our decisions are influenced by context and emotions. Seeing something with our own eyes—walking into a company, watching someone speak—activates brain processes that lead to more informed choices.
Technology is a tool, not a substitute. It makes life easier, but true connection happens only in person. Whether it’s for work, friendship, or life’s most important decisions, meeting face-to-face makes all the difference in the world.
