Globalization and Spatial Distances: "end of Geography" and "death of Distance"?

Geographic distance between certain parts of the World during most of human history had the function of a barrier and reduced the possibilities of communication between them. The impossibility of quickly overcoming large distances and information exchange was the main obstacle to connecting distant societies and the main brake on the establishment of global connections. Advances in transportation technologies in the 20th century eased spatial barriers to some extent. But only with globalization, the emergence of the Internet and the development of information technologies at the end of the 20th century, the concept of geographic distance was radically changed and physical distance as a barrier was eliminated to a significant extent; terms like cyberspace, virtual reality, deterritorialization, etc. were created. Today, when social networks enable instant communication on a planetary level, in people's minds the compression of time and space leads to a completely different understanding of distance and its relativization. The increasingly easy transport of people and goods over long distances, the explosive growth of information and communication technologies and other phenomena contained in the term globalization have led many authors to discuss the diminishing importance of geographic distances as significant forces in driving economic and social activities. The concept of the "death of distance" and the "end of geography" were developed, which imply that in the modern world geographic distance is no longer important, because interpersonal communication and economic activities are increasingly transferred from real physical to virtual digital space. This paper critically examines these concepts, with the aim of proving how, even in conditions of total global networking, geographic distances still play a significant role in interpersonal relations and global economy.