The advance of new technologies affects all aspects of our lives; also our emotional relationships. For example, FOMO syndrome can interfere with family or friends’ meetings when you are constantly using your smartphone, and the same goes for the social isolation that some people experience from interacting with others only through the computer.

However, sometimes the opposite effect also occurs: technology allows people to be closer despite being physically distant. In fact, in a short time it is possible that kissing someone who is not in front of us is commonplace… although this idea can be controversial. There are already certain devices that attach to electronic devices connected to the Internet so that you can experience something similar to a kiss.

The lack of contact in long-distance relationships

Love and affection are phenomena that exist in the face to face, in contact with people and, fundamentally, through touch. The simple fact of not being able to kiss makes many long-distance relationships unsatisfactory and one is not able to find an incentive in them to compensate for this feeling of frustration.

Thus, the inability to kiss can become a problem that wears down relationships. But… is it possible that the development of new technologies allows to give an answer to this problem? Today, at least, there are some teams that are already developing ideas to make kissing possible at a distance by means of devices connected to each other in a wireless way. Let us see what their characteristics are and to what extent they have potential.

The Kiss Transmission Device

The University of Electtro-Communications in Japan has developed a machine that transmits tongue movements to another similar machine, no matter how far away it is.

It is used by placing one of its adapted parts inside the mouth , which will record the movements that are made and transmit them to another, which will move in a synchronised manner.

Kissenger bag

Besides having created a gadget whose name is in itself a joke (it comes from the union of the words “kiss” and “messenger”, but its similarity to the surname of the German politician Henry Kissinger cannot be coincidental), the City University of London has managed to create a flexible plastic case that fits on the front of the smartphone, without covering the whole screen. The idea is to use it during video call sessions to add touch to the communication exchange based on image and sound.

This gadget is able to recognize pressure differences and simple movement patterns, and also allows you to amplify the sounds of kissing.

Kissinger machine

Similar to the cover, this piggy-shaped machine has built-in plastic lips that move synchronously just like its twin partner, who may be located far away.

Is the idea of digital kissing a good one?

These machines are still curiosities developed by universities and demonstrate the degree of technical advances that are being developed in recent years, but it is not certain that they can be bestsellers.

After all, one of the fundamental aspects of kissing is its psychological dimension, and kissing a plastic surface can be too strange to be perceived as something related to love and affection.

Moreover, the simple fact of having to go and find a device takes away from the spontaneity of the kisses , making them somewhat more anodyne. Kissing may be a necessity, but it is not true that it cannot be administered as a drug; it needs a certain spontaneity and a degree of intimacy that is very complicated to achieve with these machines.

In any case, only time will tell if these remote kissing machines are a useful advance or not. In the meantime, video calls and cheap flights are still the great lifeline of long-distance relationships.