There is something which a lot of people forget about the real world vs. the virtual one: access to our entire communication is (currently) only possibly in the real world.

Tone, inflection, posture and so much more is only available when we relate face to face. I wonder if the removal of these makes the virtual world a "safe" place for people to communicate. It creates a barrier which allows us to control our communications. That is probably often a good thing.

The unfortunate effect is that there is a loss of richness and emotion in our communications.