So Close, So Far

I know we feel like we're pretty high tech here in America, and my campus paper reports that nearly all undergrads are instant messenger users , but I still feel like we've got nothing near the social reliance on technology that I witnessed in Japan. A little surfing this evening turned up the Japan Media Review, which looks like it's going to satify my curiosity on how media and technology developments in Japan are effecting the way people relate to one another there. One little tidbit I picked up in my reading tonight is that it's now becoming somewhat standard social protocol to text message someone before making a voice call to them, to see if it would be convenient for then to talk to you. I always thought that was what voice mail was for, but what do I know?