If I touch an actual newspaper nowadays, it’s usually because I’m waiting a) in a doctor’s office, b) for my car’s oil to be changed or c) for a restaurant table.
Last week it was “a.” And as I lamented my sore throat and killed time—why is it that doctors never have to wait on us?—I read the Denver Post‘s funny pages. (I also did three crossword puzzles because it was a lonnng wait.)
Anyway, it turns out that some comics aren’t really comical lately. Sometimes they just hit very close to home. There were several that didn’t make me laugh so much as say, “Ouch,” and not because my throat was on fire.
One comic strip showed a family at the dinner table. A daughter was listening to an iPod. Another was texting on an iPhone. The father was gazing into an iTouch, and the mother was said to be “iRate.”
A second cartoon showed a teen who decided to quit spending so much time on Facebook—so he asked his Facebook friends for suggestions on how to cut back (!).
A third strip showed a hoard of strangers flocking to a man’s door and saying, “Hi … We’re your Facebook friends.”
If you’re an armchair sociologist, it should probably alarm you that three nationally syndicated comic strips had a similar theme on this random day, especially since that theme was technology’s damaging effect on relationships.
Besides these cartoonists, am I the only one who sees reason to be concerned about devices and sites, or am just I a Luddite who needs to get over it?
How has technology affected your family and friendships?
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