Social? Media

Walking around Chicago this weekend I saw it a half dozen times: A group of people standing around together where fully 3/4s of the group had phone in hand checking messages, mail, texting, and tweeting. And I looked at this and I had to wonder how much our social fabric is being changed by these incredibly sophisticated and distracting devices.  People on the road behind the wheel are still looking down at their phones, thumb plugging away, in spite of the many studies showing the risk that their activity could seriously injure or kill someone. The most absurd are driving with a 16 ounce cup of something in the left hand and their phone in the right.

Despite the obvious safety issues associated with the latter example, I am curious as to what type of social structure this media is creating. There seems to be a parallel universe evolving that contains the electronic connection of people to an imagined reality. Or, an imagined reality that is becoming real. For godssakes, I sat next to a doctor at a medical staff meeting the other day-- a meeting where important policy was being considered and acted upon-- and she was cruising through her Facebook page on her iPhone.

So what happens when people are no longer able to exclude that other reality? What happens when we can't sit and visit without remaining connected to the constant stream of crap that flows through social media and the vast majority of text messages? All I can say is the guy sitting at the table next to us at dinner Saturday night must have really badly wanted to get laid: There's no way in hell I would have put up with her constant checking and responding to text messages through dinner. (Then again, given the guy she was with, we thought maybe she was fishing for a rescue text.)

All humor aside, and acknowledging how convenient and valuable tex messaging can be, I have to wonder if there isn't a button we've pushed deep within the human brain. It's the button that gives assurance one is needed, wanted, relevant, important all based on the fact you are being chosen to receive information from others. It doesn't matter if it's a WTF, lol, or BTW, it's for you. You matter.

In the meantime, we have neither the ability or desire to carry on a complex conversation. We are no longer able to eat by ourselves in a restaurant, looking around at the amazing cast of characters and life going on around us. We are no longer able to sit at a dinner table with others and create conversation. Suddenly we have become a species that sits around staring at our palms, waiting for the next auditory alert that we are, indeed, important.