Talkin' in the USA (and elsewhere)

There's a rather interesting article on Plugged In Online, the movie/music/tv rating site from Focus On The Family. Although obviously I don't agree with Focus at all, and love to make fun of them as much as I like to make of One"News"Now and WND Homeshopping, they do have a point this time.

The article is about how Americans (but I suppose it goes for Europeans just as well) are so used to communicating through electronic devices, they sort of lost the touch of communicating in real life. Reading it, it really does make sense. How many times do you see two people who know each other sitting in a train, or walking downtown, with one (and sometimes even both) of them talking into a cell phone, instead of to the person next to him or her?

I'd say: many times. I'm always surprised when this happens. I would be ashamed of myself to show such blatant disrespect to the person who's actually there, in favor of people on the other end of the line. Although I don't leave my house without my phone, the only time I use it while with people, is in absolute emergencies. I even feel embarrased writing a text message with someone around, although I have to admit I still do that quite often.

Still, I think there's a big difference between texting and calling (although both forms of communication can be considered rude), since calling actually takes ones entire concentration, while a text message can be send within an ongoing conversation.

The same goes for MSN, Twitter, Facebook and all the other social networking stuff on the internet. Sometimes it seems we get so pre-occupied with being social on the internet, we actually forget to be social in real life.

Now, I love the internet, but a choice between chatting through MSN or going for a drink with friends easily scales out to going out on a drink. To me, nothing can replace actually seeing your friends and family, with MSN being nothing more than a diversion on a boring evening.

How's this working in your life? Are you consumed by electronic ways of communication, or do you still actually find the time to see the ones you love in real life?