Why aren't more people telecommuting?

The numbers appear to have flattened out - and in some cases they're even declining. But why? My own suspicion is that there's an "out-of-sight-out-of-mind" concern among workers, especially in the midst of a weak economy. The Atlantic's Derek Thompson figures that the office is a place where people just feel more productive.

Facebook keeps us in touch with far-flung friends. Twitter broadcasts our internal monologues to the world. Email, texts, and phones keep us connected even when we're remote. But none of these things forces us to not be with real live people. Telecommuting is a choice to be alone. It reduces connections between workers. It removes us from the world of work and makes it indistinguishable from the period before and after, which we could simple call life.

Obviously, a lot of this depends on the person, and perhaps more importantly, the industry. Tech work is a lot different than government work.