Electronic vs. in-person communication

Wired News copy chief Tony Long writes in a recent column that the increasing use of electronic communication doesn't actually mean we're communicating any better. Rather, he says the opposite is true:

It's a paradox of the technology that even as the world shrinks, our actual communication skills are eroding. Instant communication encourages superficiality in the way we talk to each other. That's because we really aren't talking to each other. You have to look a person in the eye and speak in order to be doing that.

If I've been slighted, I'd prefer a face-to-face apology, or even waiting a few days to receive a handwritten, heartfelt note sent by traditional post, rather than a glib, "My bad, dude," e-mailed as a knee-jerk reaction by someone whose three-second attention span has already absolved him, in his mind, of any further responsibility by the time he hits Send. It's too convenient. It trivializes the act of contrition.

Of course, our increasing dependence upon technology has trivialized the art of living, and that's the real problem.

Sadly, this is the world we live in. But when my wife tells me she gains insights into my thinking by reading my blog, is that a failure of our personal communication or a success for the electronic medium?