ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the role of dialogue is recognized as important for the development of particularity between persons and the revelation of interiority. The chapter begins with a discussion that asserts that depersonalization is a general communicative issue, independent of technology. Under the presupposition that dialogue is a necessary component of friendship following many scholars, such as Rawlins, the chapter examines the nature of dialogue through the work of Buber and Ong. The constraints of dialogue are amplified when communication becomes filtered through technology, drawing from the phenomenological thoughts of Ihde. The more filtered the dialogue (e.g. text versus video chat), the more likely that the lack of cues will lead to interpretive problems in attempting to understand the other.
