Personal tech is getting touchy

The mass adoption of texting as a major form of communication has brought with it a whole range of new linguistic trends and tools like clipped sentences and emoticons. But as great as communicating by mobile is, it has until now been unable to replace authentic human touch. Enter Hug, an app that allows smartphone users to send each other “Hugs,” vibrations lasting the amount of time the sender cradles their phone to their chest. While on one level this may seem like a cold and sad stand-in for the real thing, it’s part of a larger trend exploring new ways to interact with, or through, our mobile devices, including smartwatches and virtual reality devices. Virtual hugs are just the beginning of other kinds of physical contact that will be delivered by personal technology, if you know what we mean ;). Watch this space.