A University of Massachusetts Amherst study demonstrates a tendency towards deceit the further removed one is physically from another person. Lying is far more likely in emails than in face-to-face conversation. Not only does physical distance separate our psychological connection, but so too does the asynchronous effect of time lag with email communication, as opposed to the real time communication inherent in personal conversation.

This makes me wonder if conversation acts as a sticky connector of our ethical and moral frameworks, whereby the less we communicate in person, the more prone to and accepting of unethical deceptions we become? Is frequent, meaningful conversation a necessity for being good?