Are We Becoming Too Virtual?

Are We Becoming Too Virtual?

I was at a restaurant & saw four teenagers sitting quietly while frantically texting on their latest electrical gadgets....   Shall we call them Communicators, for lack of a better word?
After a few minutes they all  laughed simultaneously, then went back to texting.  Later a mom figure came to the table and asked what they were doing.  They answered "texting - each other."  "But your sitting together, why not just talk?" said the mom figure.  "Because this is more fun." they said,  and with that, the mom figure walked away.

At first I thought this was funny, but as I thought about it, I thought it was sad that this was how they chose to share & communicate all there is to feel, speak & share... especially as a teenager.  Could it be that advances in recent communicatores have all of us spending to much time on them (talking about life) & not enough time living it?   Have we indeed become more virtual than literal?

 I don't keep up with the latest technology,  the I-phone, Me-phone, Wi- pad, Apple, Crapple, Blackberry, Crack-berry, whatever... it doesn't matter what you call it, I prefer pen & paper, a phone & a day timer to the electric life line that others choose. 

Can an email or a text professionally, or personally convey the most important things in life?
Can a text properly tell you that you have Cancer? Or that your child has been in an accident? 
That your parent has Alzheimer's?  Or that you are being terminated from your job?
Or that your spouse wants a divorce?  Or that your best freind has just died?
I cant imagine any of these things being said in a text & properly conveying the emotion that goes with it.

But at the rate we are texting, emailing, and tweeting, we may be forgetting the art of
conversation which so many of us need more than ever.  I thrive off it, even the dull ones. 
There is always something to learn from the implications & combinations of words, tone of voice,
pace, eye contact, and rhythm.  Things we can't learn in a text no matter how many symbols we use.

When I see the generations of today choosing to look down, instead of  ahead, & type words in silence, instead of speaking out loud, I wonder where we will be in 10-20 years.  Who will teach the people of tomorrow how to communicate?

As much as I am teased about my lack of technology,  I stick to my guns.  My phone is a phone.  Thats it.
My camera is a camera, nothing more.  No one object holds my entire life.  I do not feel sorry for people when they lose a phone & don't know how to live the next 5 days - because thier life schedule & phone numbers were in it, with no back up.   Really, how could you rely on a gadget to dictate your life?

So I ask... when was the last time you hand wrote a note or a card?  If its been a while, you might want to
give it a try.  You may find it to be a lot harder then you thought.  When was the last time you sat down with someone else & really talked without any abbreviations or technology?  If thats been a while, then turn it all off and turn on your emotions instead.  Look somoeone in the eye and say what you need to say.

-East End Rambler