Well you better whether you like it or not. Because when the weather goes apeshit and viruses are on about, you get no one to hand hold you.
His point is that all in-person communication includes elements that cannot be translated over text. This includes things like facial expressions, non-verbal body language. You responded with "learn how to read the manual" which isn't addressing the point that the comment is making.
Of course it is. At the end of it all lie the specs. So why dance around it?