Unexpected Result of Technology

The past several weeks are no exception to the interpersonal experiences of the past several years.  People are engrossed in their screens to the exclusion of all around them.  It's not a problem because everyone is doing the same thing, hunched over their screen either scrolling through messages or engrossed in playing some sort game.  All ignoring those around them and the rich entertainment that could be had with a good conversation.

There are books written on the subject, each and all giving advice on how to start and maintain a good conversation.  It boils down to an analogy, i.e. a game of catch.  One could easily write several hundred words on the similarities of conversation and catch but the reader can figure all of that out for him/herself.

A couple of  instances of casts being together to perform shows led to different takes on the screening phenomenon.  The first was the rather large cast of Our Town, which included several players under the age of 16.  These weren't all that comfortable around a rather large group of older, not elderly, people.  They spent the first couple of  rehearsals bent over their screens but then something interesting happened.

One at a time the screens were put on the counter, table, or in a pocket and the kids began to participate in the patter and the fun of the conversations going on around them.  It was, I think, a matter of getting comfortable with the others in the cast.  The screens offered a safe diversion until they felt less threatened and like participating in the fun.

A second, more recent experience, was in another large cast where people would sit together but be totally engrossed, each in their own screen, usually playing a game or texting someone.  I am assuming the person being texted was not there but one never knows.

These people were adults, anywhere from 17 to 78 years of age.  As the senior member of the cast, I was anywhere from 40 to 60 years older than any other; that is not beside the point.  For about 6 weeks of rehearsals and performances, I was politely ignored.  My attempts at starting a conversation were met with one word answers or sometimes more but never an attempt to continue.  This wore on me until I realized their discomfort with talking to me.  But then they didn't talk all that much among themselves either.

I think a psychologist would have a field day in analyzing the scope and content of the talking that went on; I won't call it conversation.  Remarks, snippets, braggadocio, facts, experiences, were sent one way, one time.  There were some conversations but for that period of time and for the hours spent together, scant little.

The ignorance of social interaction can be laid at the doorstep of Apple, Google, Microsoft, and the other developers of applications that are used on digital devices.  A whole generation of people is being hijacked into isolation and losing the ability to interact on an informal basis.

Personally, I'm not going to be around long enough to see the long-term effect of all of this and sometimes I think that's a good thing.  Freedom from social interaction could have dire results.  The next generation of people is already not involved in the personal interaction that participation in society demands.  Their needs are met by technology at one extreme and by gangs on the other.

Pick up games are a thing of the past. Structured activities are something like technology.  Participation requires an appointment, a driver, safety equipment, umpires, referees.  And in the setting up of these "play dates", texts and calls among parents to be sure that everyone is on board for the experience.  When is the last time you heard someone called from outside their house to come out and play?

Technology doesn't require personal, face-to-face interaction and certainly not with people who are not of the same age or class as that of the youth.  The void is filled by those who readily supply the need to belong, unfortunately in many cases it is given by a criminal gang.

The two extremes; overly structured and anarchic are the rigueur du jour.  Technology fuels both..