This week, I had lunch with a friend.
Actually, it was lunch with a friend and her cell phone.
The conversation fragmented under the assault of the insistent buzzing of the phone, then the click-click-click of her texting a reply. I think the people texting her had a more coherent conversation.
“So what are you doing—”
Buzz.
Sigh (me)
Click-click-click, send.
“How is—”
BUZZ.
And so forth.
The last kids’ sporting event I attended, one woman texted the entire time. I don’t know if she saw the event. I’ve seen an employee fired for updating her FaceBook page instead of working (yes, management knows who goes where when).
Has technology left us so over-stimulated that we can’t relax and have an in-person conversation? Must we multitask continuously? And are we really doing an adequate job on the important things?
My family knows it’s risky to call during my writing time to see what I’m doing (I’m writing. It’s my writing time. You know this). I prefer in-person conversation. I dislike impersonal group email to the entire clan instead of a letter (electronic or otherwise) just for me.
I don’t
What do you think? Is technology taking over? Or am I so outdated I can’t “relate?”
You can send me a personal email.
