Paris Hilton does it. Why don't we all do it?
My wife and I met at a gathering of students singing around the piano in the lobby of the women's dorm at college. After singing, she and her boyfriend and her roommate and I walked to Baskin and Robbins 31 Flavors Ice Cream and talked about the sorts of things college students are interested in. Ice Cream in hand, we all again walked up a hill at the south end of campus and sat in front one of the college's original buildings and talked into the nighttime.
While my wife and I didn't fall in love and get married until years later, those early days singing, talking, laughing, and teasing each other built a foundation of friendship that lasts to this day.
Contrast those rich and satisfying, life-changing experiences with some of these modern-day "social" experiences:
1) Awhile ago my wife and I went to a movie together for our weekly date night. We sat in our favorite row, one up from the "guardrail" row. Having arrived early to get decent seats, we sat and talked while I (inevitably) made fun of what passes for pre-movie "entertainment." A young and attractive couple sat down next to us. Both of them pulled out their phones and, in enthralled silence, proceeded to send text messages to whoever it was they felt the need to send text messages to.
I don't recall either of them saying one word to each other as their texting seemed to engross them throughout the entire movie. I do remember thinking what an idiot the young man was for not paying attention to the pretty young woman who sat one foot away from him.
2) My daughter related this experience with the others in her dorm. In the evenings, as students gathered in the common room, instead of talking, singing, laughing, or having a good time, all would instead pull out their phones or open up their laptops and text or check their Facebook accounts.
They got annoyed with my daughter for trying to talk with them. "If you want to talk," they implied, "go get on Facebook."
3) The other day, as I stepped out of my home, I saw a father and his daughter taking a walk in our absolutely gorgeous and clear weather - a chill 65 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Instead of enjoying the weather and her dad, the daughter had her head bent over her phone and, while trudging along, concentrated on texting. I didn't see her look up once all the way down the street. (In her favor, she didn't trip and fall, so she was at least glancing at her feet now and then.)
4) In the last Western Civilization class I substituted recently, even after asking for everyone to put away their cell phones, no less than five students sat with their heads bent over their tiny keyboards, furiously typing away. One student sat with her back turned to me the entire time, riveted to her text "conversation." Another handful of students hid behind their laptops, ostensibly taking notes while simultaneously sending emails, surfing the net, and checking their Facebook page.
I don't allow cell phones in my own classes.
It would be easy to use these examples and pick on technology or blame the world's troubles on social networking, texting, video games, and Facebook. In my day, the Great Evil was television (which is still true, by the way). Yet, to blame the technology misses the mark, I think.
We live in a wonderful day and age where an average Joe like me (not my real name) can compete on some, small level with the media outlets of the past. I can have friends whom I admire, yet whom I've never met, and who live thousands of miles away. I can talk with my daughter face to face though she's on the other side of the continent. I can contact old classmates from days gone by (as well as tick them off with my politics). I can watch a myriad of Silver Screen movies in my living room. I can haul a phone out of my pocket and make a call while walking down the street. Heck, I can make a long distance call without any additional charges.
We live in a truly wondrous world. Yet with all the advances in communications technology, we lack one, essential element - communications.
There's something to be said for sitting around as a group, singing around the piano, and talking to someone who's there with you, talking back.
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