Yuvi Zalkow’s novel I Only Cry with Emoticons is a defense of the personal encounter.
As technology has become more advanced, we have become increasingly reliant on communicating via screens. Emojis have replaced words and “likes” substitute for phone calls. While some aspects of electronic modernity are helpful (such as forestalling global collapse during the height of the pandemic), there is still much to be said for good old face-to-face communication.