I thought this article https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdigh.2015.00002/full was a good resource on understanding the importance of touch in communication. I also found interesting the ways technologies are trying to create mediated-touch. Loss of touch is one of the communication limits in virtual teams, but I believe future technologies will find different avenues to increase trust and affective relationships in virtual collaboration. I think one of the ways virtual teams are already doing this, is by being able to respond to different messages from members in the team. Slack, for instance, is able to let the user like messages and responses from other members. Or, as the article highlights, using avatars to present emotional information could help as well. Although these technologies are pretty new, "mediated touch can modulate psychological responses, increase trust and affect, help to establish bonds between humans and avatars or robots, and initiate pro-social behavior".
I thought this article https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdigh.2015.00002/full was a good resource on understanding the importance of touch in communication. I also found interesting the ways technologies are trying to create mediated-touch. Loss of touch is one of the communication limits in virtual teams, but I believe future technologies will find different avenues to increase trust and affective relationships in virtual collaboration. I think one of the ways virtual teams are already doing this, is by being able to respond to different messages from members in the team. Slack, for instance, is able to let the user like messages and responses from other members. Or, as the article highlights, using avatars to present emotional information could help as well. Although these technologies are pretty new, "mediated touch can modulate psychological responses, increase trust and affect, help to establish bonds between humans and avatars or robots, and initiate pro-social behavior".