For all the value that a virtual world can bring to teaching and learning, there are potentially negative consequences that must not be ignored when considering the role of technology in education. In his commentary, Robert Sanders draws upon a 1909 short story by E.M. Forster ("The Machine Stops") as well as his own experience with students to raise vital questions about the impact of technology in learning contexts. Sanders proposes that a radical embrace of virtual interaction as a medium of learning typically fails to appreciate the distinctive pedagogical value of face-to-face interaction; that an overzealous adoption of technology by educators can result in a skewed emphasis on rapid information-gathering rather than on knowledge as a cumulative process of reflection, interpretation, and inquiry; that the appeal of technological innovation can obscure informed decisions about the suitability of specific technologies for specific learning contexts; and that what appear to be the obstacles, constraints, or limitations of the physical world are often precisely what allows us to engage more fully with one another as learners and human beings. Although Sanders acknowledges the substantial benefits that technology can bring to education, he maintains that educators must be willing to view technology from a critical, reflective distance in order to fulfill their responsibilities to students.