People Talking?

The official “Starting Line” for most morning rides is the local Tim Horton’s just around the corner from my house.  As any Canadian rider will tell you a trip to Tim’s is as critical as fuel in the tank.  Without it you just can’t go.

I sat down with my medium double double, breakfast sandwich and my iPad to look at the map and peruse possible destinations.  A table away sat a few older people sipping coffee and chatting.  Little by little this group grew and the volume became greater and greater.  I closed the cover on my iPad and covertly observed this gathering. 

I felt a bit like Marlin Perkins on Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” exploring new and fantastic things.  People…out of their homes…in a social situation…SOCIALIZING!  It was strange and intriguing.  They did things like make eye contact and listen to one another.  There were great stories filled with laughter and bright happy smiles.  Strangely absent from modern times were iPhones, Blackberries and headphones.  There were no Facebook status updates or Tweets…nothing.  How on God’s earth would anyone know what was going on?  Oh yeah…they were actually talking and present in the environment.  They weren’t there electronically connected to somewhere else.  Sounds refreshing doesn’t it?

My father who falls into the demographic of those people I watched often talks of updating his cell phone.  He ponders his potential inability to understand the new technology.  I’d wager that puts him at a distinct advantage in his relationships.  He knows how to talk and actually be present in a social situation.  He’s not wondering what else is up or who commented on his Facebook status about what was said at the Rotary meeting on Friday afternoon.  He’s not jones’n for a Twitter fix or sweaty and jittery cause he hasn’t sent or received a text message in the past five minutes.  He’s just there.

Sometimes I wonder about all this connectivity and “progress”.  My friend’s girlfriend put it very well when she said “…all this instant connection stuff doesn’t allow you to ‘miss’ anyone anymore.”  That’s worthy of some consideration.