iPod - the downfall of social graces

I have succomed to many technical habits that are plaguing our social fabric. Cellular telephones was one that I tried to stay away from, but fell into far quicker than I had hoped. Though  I pride myself on leaving it at home as often as possible and if I am with friends, then there is no need to have it on. Sometimes it is nice to be unreachable. One technology that I have come to use in public more often is my iPod. I have a handy dandy iPhone, full computing station in the palm of my hand. So, with the phone, comes the music. When I am strolling the streets, I sometimes where the headphones. It bothers me that so many people proudly gamble through the streets, on busses, and yes, even sit through my class with these lil ear buds stuck to their head. The lack of human interaction may prove to be a great failing point of our generation. Without communication and daily human interaction, we lose our social graces and ability to enjoy the company of our fellow man... not digital man, but fellow man.

This is scary. I have never been one for talking, or social interaction for that matter, but I try to be involved when I can. Without this, we will revert to our instinctual selves. 

Which brings me to my next point. Learning. I do try to keep myself open to new ideas, alternate ways to accomplish simple tasks and just the enjoyment of watching and observing how nature unfolds. The iPod wanderings have opened up many new ideas for me as well. First of all, I am always focused when listening to music in public. I break into a voracious yawp or melodic drumline far too easily and this is not something I need to expose to the population at large. But I did discover that it is much easier to pass gas in public with music on. You can be as stealthy as a fly....."hey! I didnt hear a thing... damn Im smooth." But take this with some warning. You are fooling yourself, the more you sneak the cheek, the more brazen you become. And sooner or later you will (reverting to my previous statement about losing social graces) be brave enough... no stupid enough, well, I guess you just won't give a crap about the world around you and you will float your air biscuits whenever they arise. And we cannot have this in our world. People, you cannot go around farting at will just because you have music blasting in your brain and can't hear what everyone else hears you do. 

Like many great discoveries, they come with great warnings. Just because you cannot hear what you are doing, doesnt mean that the rest of us wont either.