Keep in Touch

A quarter of a century ago, before the internet age really got going, I was having lunch one day with one of Toronto’s media heavyweights. As the meal was winding down, he said, out of the blue: “I had the strangest experience this past weekend. A friend invited me to his Ukrainian Orthodox Church for Easter services. It was absolutely creepy—all these people standing up in unison, sitting down in unison, praying, kneeling, chanting, crossing themselves in unison. Totally weird.”

“Doesn’t sound so weird to me,” I said. “It sounds like a community.”

“Community!” jeered my lunch mate. “Listen. Tonight is the Oscars, right? Millions and millions of people all over the world will be watching that event together—live! That’s what I call community.”

I have never forgotten that startling exchange, and as the wired world has gradually tightened its invisible grip over the real one, I have remained fascinated by the tension between the two and the ongoing...