I remember the first time my best friend and I met. Our moms were close friends and so their friendship was passed down to us. However, it was not just because of our parents that we became so close. We lived in the same apartment but on different floors. She lived on the 14th floor while I lived on 8th. People looked at us and thought that we were inseparable. And so did we. Nothing, not even great distances, could separate us. More so because technology connected everybody in the world.

When I came to the United States from Korea, I firmly believed that technology would preserve our friendship. I now had a friend across the globe. However, things changed. I used to text my friend every day in the beginning. But as time went by, every day turned into once a week, once a week turned into once a month, and once a month turned into once a year. The next thing I knew, our texts ceased.

People say that it’s a small world, as technology allows people to maintain close relationships with other people, especially families, no matter how far apart they are. However, people need geographical proximity in any kind of relationships. Staring at each other on device screens is not the same as being able to reach out and touch the person. We need not only sight and hearing, but we need to be able to touch and smell the person as well. So no, the world is not small. It is big. And no, we are not global people. We are local people.