The most social of times, you say? I am not sure we fully understand the word anymore.
The proof is everywhere, just look around.
Lunch or dinner with friends. What is the first thing most people do? Pull out their phones as if something was more important than actual physical presence. This behaviour is sadly gaining momentum in all age groups.
Business lunch. Again, the same behaviour except aggravated by the fact that we think we have an excuse. Each participants can justify as least to himself that he is checking his phone because of work. More likely than not, they are checking Facebook or Twitter.
Concerts/sports events. I recently went to a James Blunt concert and watched a couple of 14/15 year olds spend more time looking at their phone than enjoying the concert together. Every so often they looked up, took selfies and then quickly went back to their screens.
Cab/car ride. The minute we hop into a vehicle for anything from a short uptown cab ride to a trip to school, we all flock to the screen. Perhaps things have changed in the last 5 minutes?
Of course, I could try and make this an exhaustive list, but I think that you get the point. We are drifting towards a place that is ugly yet convenient. A place where casual conversation is disappearing and a place where multi-processing has more perceived value than focussed one-to-one relationships.
Not particularly appealing to me.....
Note: In August I wrote about the challenges of constant connectivity and gave some insight into how I had made some changes in my life to address the addiction of connectivity: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140811171102-4219490-refuse-constant-connectivity?trk=mp-reader-card
* This post was first published on LinkedIn