Truly personal contact is impossible without real eye-contact

In human communication, nothing is more important than genuine eye-contact. It is the oldest 'body- language' communication feature of humans. Eye-contact has been used for millions of years before speech was introduced in the human communication mix. Eye-contact is used or not used– deliberately and subconsciously- many times per day. It can be a lot stronger and more meaning-full than speech or written communication. If the other person is not looking you into the eyes, the communication is stilted and unrewarding. It does not feel 'right' and one gets 'disconnected' from the human communication if the eye-contact is lacking and if the person is looking above or below you. It is not possible to establish rapport and to convey trust without eye-contact. However in conventional video-conferencing, telepresence or text-chat systems, there is absolutely no aligned eye-contact between the participants. No-one is ever looking anyone else in the eyes ! Yet, most people feel that something is 'wrong' when using video to communicate over distance. That is why the Teleportel systems are popular in those applications whereby the real-human contact is essential : retail, banking, recruitment, counter-services, front desk reception, medical, important business conversations etc…