I was riding back from Martha's Vineyard on the PeterPan line, and as I looked around I discovered that at least 60% of the riders were utilizing some gadget or another, surfing or emailing, or just plain tweeting and liking. They ranged from iPhones to BlackBerrys (and a few androids, but who's counting?). There were also a good number of laptops, not the least of which were MacBooks (I should know, that's what i'm writing on at the moment), and I suddenly got this feeling of great unity, and at the same time isolation. Here we all are using technology designed to bring us all together, but in many instances it has only served to isolate us even more. Now we speak with people more, but only through texting or email. Face to face communication seems to be declining as people slip on their headphones to watch Hulu or Netflix, or to upload or download media content from any number of sites specifically designed with this purpose in mind. Once companies fought to suppress social media in their networks, now Yammer comes along and tells Net Admins that it's okay to let employees socialize over the network, as long as they like or tweet or click on the right ads, and purchase the right products. People have become the minority, and YouTube has become the majority leader for the education of old and young alike.
I'm not saying that we should restrict our access to technology, but I do feel we should be more vigilant in who and what we watch on the new idiot boxes we lovingly call our computers. We've turned technology into a cultural icon, one whose ramifications will be felt for a long time to come. Instead of having iPad parties, and schools teaching us how to develop new silly apps, how about some real conversation for a change.
Put down your phone, talk face to face to someone. Just for a little while. Huh?
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