So I'm eating breakfast at a nice hotel this weekend and within a few minutes, an attractive couple walks in and sits at the table next to me. Once they ordered, the next thing they did was to pull out a mobile phone, find a music video on YouTube, set it on the table and start watching.
They never spoke to each other. The only communication between them was to sing along with the music video (much to the dismay of the other restaurant customers.)
I sat their amazed that:
1. They couldn't get through a meal without watching a media program.
2. They never actually spoke to each other.
3. In-between chewing, they sang along at normal levels - completely oblivious to the other diners.
The distracted culture reigns these days.
People can't get through a movie in a theatre without checking their social media multiple times. One study indicates Middle-School kids check their social media 100 times per day on average. We can't drive cars without it. (As deaths from car accidents skyrocket.) On airplanes, I rarely see anyone reading a book anymore. The vast majority are playing video games or watching movies.
It's changing our behaviour in far more fundamental ways than we ever dreamed.
