I don't think it's meant to supplant interactions as much as it is to respect mental space. My coworkers are very much so about the social interaction and their

I don't think it's meant to supplant interactions as much as it is to respect mental space. My coworkers are very much so about the social interaction and their breaks are sacrosanct. (Stopping Russians when they decide it's time for tea is near impossible). But sometimes people are just deep in thought during their work time and sometimes you just need to have an hour or two of uninterrupted thinking time to get stuff done. This goes doubly so for open shared offices; none of us have so much as dividers much less our own rooms, so learning to respect personal space is really important. Everyone is still big on the social part - most people all you need to do is ping then when you want coffee or tea and you'll get a message back or have someone at your desk ready to go in a moments notice. Once in awhile though, you get nothing until hours later, which is just a "busy" signal. (no one bothers with statuses since they either forget or no one pays attention anyways).