the whole apparatus loops back to hiding — "the bulk of U.S. consumers remained…"

The technology of contact completes its circle by delivering everyone back to the blind, unseen, half-attentive privacy they started from, now at video-fiber prices: behind the fake tableau the caller is once again invisible and free not to attend, the whole advance having existed only to be undone. And the residue it leaves is a population more unwilling than ever to leave the house and meet in person at all, the fear of being seen hardened into a way of life.