I'm not overly needy; believe me I love alone time and space but I like some human interaction.

I used to be very social and a phone talker almost nightly with friends. Since this whole FB craze took over I almost NEVER hear from anyone anymore. If you want to get a hold of someone you almost have to go through FB, email or text. God forbid you call...9x out of 10 there will be no answer. When we do get together everyone is glued to their cell phones or busy scrolling through 100 pictures to show you. When I do get on the phone with someone you can hear them "clicking" their keyboards in the background or you can tell they're distracted. I loathe this. I miss my friends!

If you're from the 70's-80's era don't you find this depressing as h*ll?

I think technology is wonderful in many ways but people are becoming way too introverted. It's getting lonely. Even my BF is glued to his computer but he's working on recording/writing an album so I give him a pass. He's not just tooling around on the net...but still.

It's like I have to start going to bingo night at the senior center to get any real interaction. Everyone 50 and under is on the internet.

What gives? Will this ever end? I keep hoping the novelty will wear off..

I totally understand, novangel. Everywhere you go, everyone is on their phones/iPads/whatever gadget. And it doesn't matter if you are in a doctors office, Walmart, walking through the park. I have to admit I am guilty of this too as my shopping list is on my phone, my song list for walking is on my phone, my questions for the doctor is on an email I sent myself.

That being said, I don't think people know how to talk to each other anymore!! Even my dad who is 62 will text me (it's hilarious to see "LOL" from my dad, he's not technical at all!).

It's enraging to me when I call someone to get info real quick and I get the infamous voicemail but 2 seconds later I get a text saying "you called?" or "what do you want?"---that means they have their phone right there!!

I don't do Facebook or Twitter or any of those social media things so for me, I literally don't know what goes on in anyone's life. And to a point, I miss it. But to another point, I don't miss the drama that everyone seems to go through keeping up to the minute tabs on people they haven't seen in 20 years.

I get more interaction with strangers in public than I do with the people who are friends and family. It's weird to me but somehow evolved that way.

The best part of texting instead of talking on the phone though for me is.........texting my mother-in-law to say "no thanks" to her Easter invitation! No guilt, no hearing her sigh, just a simple text. Sounds mean but she can be mean.

Before TV, we used to visit each other's homes. We played games and cards. In the summer our extended family got together and we made home made icecream and visited. All of the cousins would play together. We did this EVERY week. It was so much fun!!!

I hear you there. With exception of one person I do all the work. If I didn't call/text I'd probably never hear from them at all. It's hard for me to sever all ties though...some of these people were a big part of my life for a long time.

I have no idea how my last post quoted from #5 wound up as post #4. Internet time travel?

Edit: Now I've bumped 5 to 6?

Whatever...carry on..

I think it's a matter of redefining social interaction in the modern age. Things were different for our parents and grandparents. There never used to be telephones and sometimes people didn't see or hear from each other for much longer periods of time.

But I too get annoyed when I don't have the face time I long for with my own sons. Sometimes I have to text them from the next room to get their attention! I have stopped throwing dinner parties like I used to because I've sent out invitations and have gotten no RSVP at all and no one showed up! People can be very rude and clueless.

I've had to rethink some friendships and how I go about meeting new people and making connections. And I don't put the effort into maitaining relationships with people who seem to need me to do all the work in a relationship.

I've started using MeetUp.com to find people who actually like to DO something. I got a job in a Pilates studio so that I can create a supportive community of people that I see nearly every day. I have a couple really dear friends that I spend time with and we all make an effort to stay connected. Relationships take work, in person as well as electronically.

I hear you! I'm 25 and i feel the exact same way. I moved to the Arctic 2 years ago and didn't never had a smart phone when I lived in Toronto. I feel like i just escaped a rudeness trend! Even my best friend always wears her headphones when she is talking to me...it drives me NUTS! My community up here in the North just got cell service a week ago and I'm already frustrated. People are so frigging rude with their phones, including my friends!

Here's hoping Google Glass makes everyone realize what an idiot they look like.

It's the cell phones I can't stand. Why do many people have to be in constant touch with someone 24/7 ? They can't get through the check out stand at the store without talking on their cell, they can't walk down the street without talking on the cell phone, in the elevator, yep they are on the cell phone, at the Doctor's office, everywhere they go ..

There's a lot of talk surrounding this new culture, and especially how it's affecting young people. There's some ideas out there that it's the cause of all the hyper-bullying that's been taking place, that the lack of non electronic interaction is causing people to have difficulty creating enough empathy to care about others.

I don't know if it's true or not, and I'm sure high school kids would say it's not true.

While the information age has seen some remarkable benefits, there's always a cost to them.

(and yeah post times are messed up. it's reported above.)

I'm a 70s child and I always hated talking on the phone so the current form of technology suits me. I can keep in touch with friends and family much easier with the use of Facebook.

I still do plenty of things that require me to be offline such as kayaking, camping, traveling etc but for day to day stuff, I am pretty content.

Also, I'm sure there were people that had similar complaints when telephones came out 'people used to visit!' or 'people used to write!' or whatever. I've been re-reading the Little House (on the Prairie and such) books and it amazes me how different life was. You might not see another person other than your family for months and writing involved traveling many miles to send a letter.

This is a major peeve of mine. I canceled my facebook account, reduced our number of phones to one cell phone, and sold the television. I am 25 and I can't stand how people sequester themselves away with their smart phones at every social gathering from church to night clubs. Half the time I bet they are not even doing anything on the phone! I sometimes think people use technology the way I use body fat, a protective distancing mechanism. Haha! Of course, I am no exception in some ways. Because I have to be on a computer a lot for school and thesis research, I frequently find myself immersed in say...reading weight loss blogs/forums. In many ways the internet is a beautiful tool making the collection of human knowledge more accessible than ever before...opening the door to greater understanding, granting interaction to those isolated (weather by will or physical limitation), and providing possibly the most hopeful vehicle for world peace...It's a love hate relationship for me as well.

I was born in 86 and I'm happy with the current technology. I do not like talking on the phone anymore. Unless it is my mama, grandma, or one of my brothers it usually doesn't get answered. If they leave a voicemail and it seems important then I will call back.
I don't like it though when a few of us are out and someone is updating Facebook with every single move we make. :/

I hate talking on the phone, it's basically a waste of time to me. I have a very, very small amount of people I call and talk to. Even then I try to only do it when I have about 20 minutes available because if not I'll be stuck on the phone for an hour. Talking on the phone is annoying. I have one friend who devotes her attention to me and ONLY talks to me when she's talking to me. That's it. One.

My grandma watches TV while I talk to her, often I have to ask her to turn it off because it's so loud it's distracting me and I can't think. Sometimes she'll interrupt me to start talking about what's on the TV. My mom is doing roughly a million things when I talk to her and she's generally not paying attention or contributing to the conversation. My aunt is also doing a million things and talking to her husband or children or asking me to hold on. One of my best friends is also doing a million things when I talk to her and often is talking to her boyfriend or interrupts me and starts talking about how she's doing the dishes and what a pain it is, not even realizing that I was in the middle of telling her something.

Basically, no one really talks to me on the phone anyway. I'd rather text or IM so everyone can say what they want and be done and also respond on their own time.

Also talking on the phone has given me great anxiety my entire life so there's that issue too. AND I have a lot of social anxiety (my family doesn't even know I have it) and talking to strangers paralyzes me with fear. When I'm in an elevator, doctor's office, grocery store line or anywhere where someone may strike up a conversation I'm on my phone trying to appear busy so people leave me alone. I am 28 years old and I realize this seems sounds silly and like an easily fixable thing, but it's not.

If anyone calls your cell phone at midnight just to chitchat with you or talks to you with headphones you should blame the technology. It is people who don't have respect to other people.

I am happy with current technology. It allows you find info quickly and to do a lot more which were not possible before.

I'm OK with people using social media and texting to keep up with people. I only keep a select number of people on FB that I don't talk to otherwise so they can see pictures and what's going on with my kids.

I will say I am one of those that will not answer a call and respond by text usually because I am somewhere that I cannot answer, it would be rude to others to talk on the phone, etc. like perhaps class, doctor's office or my office (thin walls).

I don't see a lot of people behind their phones not interacting with others. I see people integrating the technology into their lives. Some "over share and over document" but more often than not I just see quips, witty things, people arranging get togethers, posting old pictures from way back when.

The only time cell phones bother me is when people can't even say "Hold on a sec" and interact with the cashier. Even if it's at 7-11, they ARE people. And to see two people eating lunch together, both on their cell phones is comical.

But, in the end everyone has to be happy with their own choices. Some like me wouldn't cope well in a world without technology and others the opposite.