Silent Communication

Yesterday I wrote about a high school football game I attended. Something I observed was left out on purpose so I could expand on it a bit. It was fascinating. The students I watched at the game, not including the players and marching band of course, were all doing one of three things.

1. They were engaged in animated conversation punctuated by dramatic hugs and fake cheek kisses.

2. They were looking around for the next person they knew in order to have more animated conversations and dramatic hugs and fake kisses.

3. Their heads were down, noses planted in a cell phone, and fingers flying in a wonderful show of dexterity and eye/hand coordination as they sent text messages flying around the airwaves.

They most certainly were not watching the game.

Even as I drove my daughter K to the game along with her friends J and D, the text messages were flying. They don’t seem to have verbal communications anymore. They sit next to each other sending text messages most likely to avoid parental oversight. Either that, or they are slowly losing the ability to communicate verbally, which, if you have heard groups of under 18’s talk, seems very likely.

It’s like some sort of weird science-fiction film where the young have evolved into higher beings that can communicate with each other without talking. The future is now.