Entry #5 How did we get here?

So there is this movie with a great example of what I want to discuss here. It seems a bit ridiculous with the setting, but give it a chance, and while you watch, ask yourself if its in actuality so far fetched that we live this way.

Are we passing life by as we "connect" to each other?  When was the last time you went to a restaurant that doesn't have a TV in it?  Sports, movies, games, phones and table-side applications surround us in our day to day movements as we navigate through our daily schedules.  Our children learn on smart boards at school, they research on computer screens, and they will never have to learn how to write cursive, because that use of communication is dying.  When was the last time you wrote an actual letter to someone just because you could?  Here is the thing, why don't you want to write a letter just because you can? Its an easy answer, why would anyone spend the time writing a letter when I could just email or text them?  The same rules apply for even answering a phone call these days; getting sent straight to voicemail with a followup text of "Whats up?" is common occurrence.  So whats the cost of all this convenience?

We have anxiety when we leave our phones at home, our kids can't sit in a car without a device to keep them quiet.  There is no way you are going to go to a restaurant and not seeing someone on the phone while their partner does the same or sits there looking around the room like they were suddenly sitting alone across from their occupied date.  There is pressure on parents to buy their kids phones, and then they are introduced to an array of social media that can make them feel insecure in ways they never realized before the internet told them they weren't special enough.  I know, the argument is always that its limitless information at our fingertips, that's a really attractive idea.  Its amazing to have that capability, but we are getting so much of this great "stuff" at such a high price.

I realize that a lot of people might disagree with this point of view, but if you really don't think some of this resembles a little bit of an actuality, go out for an entire day without using any technology once and look around the rooms you are in.  Tell me that you weren't ignored at least once by others wrapped up in their own little social worlds, on their phones, tablets, computers, and televisions as your day goes by.  Is it really so far fetched what we saw in the Wall-E video?  Please, let me know.