Looking for the name of a story I read years ago...

[WritersBlock]

It was about a woman who did all of her communicating from her room, without ever seeing anyone in person. She had lots of friends she talked to all day, but it was all from her room, maybe even from her bed or a chair she rarely left (I can't really remember).

Then one day her son called and begged her to come visit him in person, and the rest of the story is about her leaving her room and the journey on some sort of subway-like train.

That is all I can remember, but I think I read it back in the 70's or early 80's - way before the internet was popular, anyway.

Does this plot ring a bell with anyone else? I'd love to know the author's name & the story title. I'd be really grateful to anyone who can help with this.. any ideas?

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. I am reminded of the characters in Asimov's Naked Sun

on Aurora, where the people had no contact except by visiphone, and robots did all manual labor.

Not helpful, I know.

[WritersBlock]

2. Actually, that does help. It's "The Machine Stops" by E.M Forster....

Not sure just how, but I came up with the right Google phrase after reading your post.

From http://brighton.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~prajlich/forster.html:

Anybody who uses the Internet should read E.M. Forster's The Machine Stops. It is a chilling, short story masterpiece about the role of technology in our lives. Written in 1909, it's as relevant today as the day it was published. Forster has several prescient notions including instant messages (email!) and cinematophoes (machines that project visual images).

-Paul Rajlich (homepage)

Looks like the entire story is posted on his site.

Thank you, NC!