Small Talk vs Small Tools

Today we rode the Sprinter into Oceanside and walked out onto the pier.

The Sprinter is a two to three car light rail train which costs us $2.25 each for a round trip. The cars have huge windows, bright material-covered seats, and a smooth ride from Escondido to the pier area in Oceanside. We got on at the Palomar College Station along with several students. Riding gives us an opportunity to observe the people waiting to board the train, and once we’re seated to get acquainted with anyone who wants to talk. No agenda, just old-fashioned small-talk.

This little activity of observing and meeting people has brought us pleasure for years. Recently however, it has become an uphill battle to interact with anyone except ourselves because of the newest techie toys and tools everyone and their three-year-old has. Eye contact between people has all but disappeared as the point of vision for most people I saw today was their hand-held device, whether cell phone, blackberry, ipad, iphone, ipod, or “iother.” Most had an ear bud with a cord hanging down one side or the other or both. Many were gyrating to unheard (by us) music, and there was the occasional person who was gesticulating and talking to the air. I remember the first person I ever saw doing such a thing was at the Ontario Airport, and after watching him a moment, I decided he was stark raving mad!  Now in the age of the Bluetooth-type earpieces, there is at least a clue. These same good citizens, who are willing to wear the mark of technology on the outside of their head are most probably the ones who would recoil at having to wear a necessary hearing aid!

Even the smaller children have their battery-operated games with them. In any given booth at a restaurant these days you’ll find at least two adults who are either talking to or texting with other people, and a child or two who either:  Stare off into space because they are being totally ignored, play a game alone, or are fighting with each other over whose turn it is to play.

Of course I know how to text and do it often, but usually when I’m alone, and never while driving. Not just because it’s against the law in California, and somehow the message gets garbled when you have to look at the road instead of your text “<rry ,r gpt vpggrr sy Dystnivl]d om sm jpit/,”  but because I personally know someone whose life will never be the same because a driving-texter ran full speed into her at a stop light.

If my cell phone rings when I’m out in public, I try to answer it if I can, but try not to ignore the people I’m with to talk to the caller. No one around me really wants to know how I’m feeling or what kind of surgery Great Aunt Suzie had. (Neither does the caller for that matter!) Anyway, my point is that cell phone talking should be somewhat private.

I’m thinking that the general population will never give up their technology, so Don and I will need to cultivate some different ways to pass the time while traveling. Hey, I  know… we could talk to each other!