Question

Read this excerpt from "A Visit from the Goon Squad."

At last he found Rebecca, smiling, holding Cara-Ann in her arms. She was dancing. They were too far away for Alex to reach them, and the distance felt irrevocable, a chasm that would keep him from ever again touching the delicate silk of Rebecca’s eyelids, or feeling, through his daughter’s ribs, the scramble of her heartbeat. Without the zoom, he couldn’t even see them. In desperation, he T’d Rebecca, pls wAt 4 me, my bUtiful wyf, then kept his zoom trained on her face until he saw her register the vibration, pause in her dancing, and reach for it.

Which of these is the best question to address the societal issue raised in this excerpt?
Does technology help or hinder meaningful communication?
Should proper spelling and grammar be required to send texts?
Is it dangerous to text while engaged in other activities?
How will technology affect the music industry of the future?

Answer 1

"Does technology help or hinder meaningful communication?"

This excerpt centers on how devices mediate intimacy—enabling contact (text, Zoom) while also creating distance, altered attention, and a sense of loss. That question invites the nuanced, societal exploration the scene raises: technology’s capacity to connect across space, and the ways it can reshape, limit, or transform what “meaningful” communication feels like.