The allure of the home office is obvious: you save gas, you save time, and you can work in your pajamas if you want to. Working from home is becoming a more and more common arrangement in the US; last year, a Gallup survey found 43% of employed Americans spend at least some time working from home.

That figure was no surprise to me. Email, video chat, and a host of digital production programs have essentially eliminated the need to make an appearance at a traditional office every day — so why would you want to?

I tackled that question for myself last week when unexpected car troubles and a fierce desire to avoid losing a day's worth of pay led me to try working remotely. Answering work emails and doing simple office tasks from home is the norm for me. However, spending the whole business day on my couch with my computer on my lap and my dog sleeping next to me was an entirely new experience.

For the most part, I had a great day. Predictably, I found that the comforts of home are much greater than those of the office. I actually got to finish a cup of coffee that morning because I wasn't rushing out the door to get to the office. The yoga pants and t-shirt I wore were a thousand times more comfortable than the business attire I usually wear to work, and I was thrilled to escape the freezing cold temperatures of the office building for a day. Perhaps most importantly, my dog didn't have to spend the day alone.

In many ways, working from home is also a lot more practical than going into the office. It's easier to focus on my work in the silence of my apartment than it is in a shared workspace. I ended up spending more time working because I didn't have to deal with my 1.5 hour round trip commute. By the end of the day, I had accomplished a lot more than I normally do in the office.

Here's the issue: by far my favorite part of working from home was being by myself — and I know I'm not alone in that. As technology's presence in our lives continues to grow, we are developing a strong tendency to hide behind our computer screens. It's much more pleasant for us to send an email or make a phone call than it is to sit across a desk from someone.

That preference is permeating every area of our lives. From the time we enter middle school, we are encouraged to send emails if we have questions about our assignments. We call the bank with our concerns instead of going into a branch. Our relationships with our friends are largely based on text messages.

Back at the workplace, job applications are almost exclusively accepted online; gone are the days where one can go into an office and ask if there is work available. It's gotten to the point where many employers prefer phone and video interviews to in-person meetings. As you've likely gathered from this article, many companies are transforming into home-based digital empires that don't require you to leave your house for anything.

This trend is more than a little toxic. Relying so heavily on technology is deteriorating our personal skills. Interacting face-to-face is becoming more difficult and awkward than ever. Yes, it's true that there are still many individuals who are great at live interaction, but a growing number of people are not — especially among the younger generations.

So what are we to do?

Technology is a valuable tool, but it's important to remember that that is all it is — a tool. Technology should not always be used in place of in-person interaction. When it comes to working with others, it's a lot easier to complete projects and transactions if you are in the same place.

While my day working from home was very productive, every project I worked on was largely independent. It turned out well because I didn't need to collaborate with anyone on that particular day. Generally speaking, you need to actually spend time with your coworkers to create successful projects and build business relationships that are valuable and productive. Yet, if you're only around these people once in a blue moon, working with them is going to be a lot harder.

If we decrease our reliance on digital tools, it's likely that our social skills will start to improve again over time. My advice is to try to skip out on the home office more often than not. Practice makes perfect: the more you interact with others, the better you'll get at doing it.