visual cues

[bosun]

What does the red part mean? The following sentneces are about virus writers.

Most virus writers don't understand the damage they do.. This is understandable to a degree because the computer has introduced a shift in the way we communicate. Desensitization occurs; you miss all the visual cues, the contextual clues and you don't see the impact you having on another person.

 

[David L.]

If we were talking person to person, and I got angry at you, I might see you become extremely upset. If I struck out and hit you, I might actual cause bleeding, which I would see.
But write a virus, and send it off into cyber space, and one is not confronted by the consequences- even irreparable damage- that that virus might do. I don't just mean, cause a hard disk to crash, say. I remember reading Margot Kidder was nearing completion of her autobiography on her computer WITH NO EXTERNAL BACKUP, and through a virus, lost the lot!!!!!!!!!!
The virus creator may imagine disks crashing, but he wouldn't have witnessed (the 'visual cues' referred to) a distraught Kidder, or have had the magnitude of the loss brought home to him. I bet she was depressed.