How "real" is human interaction with computers?

In Chapter 1 of Robert J. Blake's A Brave New Digital Classroom, I was most impressed by the concept that "People's interactions with computers, television, and new media are fundamentally social and natural, just like interactions in real life"(pg. 3).  This quote was strikingly interesting to me because I once disagreed with this statement.  When I was living abroad in Argentina, I taught English online through Skype and I also taught face to face in a classroom setting.  At the time, I felt it was very difficult to teach online and I preferred my face to face classroom interactions.  I think the reason behind this was because it was something that I wasn't very familiar with so it felt uncomfortable.  I also thought that the lack of face to face interaction was just unnatural and a bit antisocial.  At the time, I thought that the best way to learn a foreign language was to immerse yourself in that language and culture.  Unfortunately, this can be time consuming and expensive, so it isn't any option for everyone.  While teaching English online through Skype, I didn't see people's interactions with computers as "real life".  The reality is, it IS "real life".  Although it is a different interaction than face to face interaction, it isn't any less real or unnatural or social.  My students had the opportunity to learn English as a second language with a native-English speaker and fortunately, were able to do this because of the Internet.  Most of my students would have not had the money or the time to learn English in a foreign country, so their interaction with computers, television and new media was their opportunity to learn a second language and that is very much real to them and to all of us.