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I am not wanting to be isolated from humanity, and I am not sure where you got that idea.

Humanity is not a display on a gadget, and if that is your entire focus, you are already isolated from humanity--even while you claim to be "connected".

I’d say it’s a generational thing except for the fact that you who are complaining so bitterly are right this very moment on a computer and obviously know how to use one well enough.

If pulling out in front of semi trucks is a "generational thing", if running into fixed objects on foot is a "generational thing", sure.

I have been using computers since the '70s. I know, compared to many here I am a latecomer.

I am a great grandfather, a geologist, and use computers for work (drilling horizontal wells would be a lot slower and harder without them). What I have noticed is the trend from useable software, bare bones but fully functional for my purposes, to graphic garbaged distraction fests which really are more difficult to work with, even to the point of hiding fundamental command menus behind graphics.

Let's get this straight, too, I use these machines to send tremendous amounts of data to clients and other people, they are wonderful. So is a claw hammer, a chainsaw, and a hydraulic jack, each in its place. It's a tool.

But when your life gets so wrapped up in the little screen that you fail to notice you run a red light in front of a tanker full of crude oil, your smart phone looks pretty dumb at the moment of contact.

How good is your kid's cell phone if they don't have it on (battery down), or if they just don't answer?

How much do you communicate with people with your TV?

Your radio?

I have a landline in case of severe storms, and a cell phone to use as a phone, when the towers are in range and functioning (yes, I am routinely in areas where there is no signal, even with adjustable gain multiband boosters and directional antennae).

So let me turn it around, 'cause I have seen grandkids sit at my table and text each other with their smartphones; when was the last time you had just a voice conversation with someone not immediate family lasting longer than hihowareya, fine, bye?

Maybe because I am a great grandpa I have seen people change, maybe that is just a question of my perspective, but I recall without so much as a record player sitting in my wife's grandmother's kitchen (the largest room in her house) on Saturday nights with most of her numerous uncles and extended family, a couple guitars, a fiddle, sometimes someone with a banjo or mandolin and having a darned good time not only catching up on all the local news that hadn't made the paper, but discussing ideas, swapping stories, and generally having fun.

We needed neither radio, microwave, cell phone, or computer to do that, and if the power went out, we'd just light a lantern or two and keep going.

I know what people don't even know they are missing.

Maybe y'all wouldn't have liked it anyway.

I have been through race riots and other not so fun human interactions, and all I can say is you may be seeing an image but you aren't there.

I think it is really funny that you think it has to be all one way or all the other, a typically Liberal form of hyperbole. I'm saying there is a time and place for most everything, and that some of it is out of place and running overtime.

As for BOR, I don't watch him, I think he's an ass. I really don't think you understood my point if you are comparing me to him, but that requires more than 'U no WTF sup' levels of English comprehension.

“We needed neither radio, microwave, cell phone, or computer to do that, and if the power went out, we’d just light a lantern or two and keep going.
I know what people don’t even know they are missing.
Maybe y’all wouldn’t have liked it anyway. ...
I have been through race riots and other not so fun human interactions, and all I can say is you may be seeing an image but you aren’t there.”

I see, you pick and choose those of the modern conveniences you approve of, and those that you don’t. How convenient for you. Computers good, tablets and cell phones not so good. And oh yeah, I’m sure most people would be just thrilled to go back to dinner by lantern light; after all, they don’t know what they were missing.

As you have stated (grandfather) and I suspected all along, you are older, and like many hypocritical older Freepers who claim to dislike modernity while hopping on their computers everyday to join their circle of Freeper friends and gossip and make snide remarks in comments (just like they accuse the younger folks of doing while texting on their cell phones with their friends) you complain about the younger generation. All that’s missing from FR are the selfies, although there are plenty of cartoons, pics, and vulgar jokes and innuendos by some. The younger generation’s tastes just aren’t the same as yours, although I’m sure that pains you.

I’m sure you personally know a whole slew of people who have been so wrapped up in the little screen that they fail to notice they ran a red light in front of a tanker full of crude oil. The odds are a lot greater that they were drunk, your generation’s vice.

As you said “how good is your kid’s cell phone if they don’t have it on (battery down), or if they just don’t answer?” I say how good is their cell phone if they have it on and do answer, or if they have an emergency and need to reach you? Is it good then? Especially if it’s one of your kids or grandkids using it for an emergency or just to say hello to gramps. I suggest you try taking your grandkids’ cell phones away and see what their parents’ reaction is when you do. And while you paint this dark portrait of the younger generation, do you feel the same way about your own grandkids or kids? Do they only speak ‘U no WTF sup’? If so, what does that say about how you raised your kids or they your grandkids?

You say “I have been through race riots and other not so fun human interactions, and all I can say is you may be seeing an image but you aren’t there.” Huh? I say, what the heck are you talking about? Your sentence makes about as much sense as again “’U no WTF sup’ levels of English comprehension.”

I might add I’m no spring chicken myself, being 67, but boy is my mindset different from yours. But again, you must be yet another generation or two above mine, as your attitude is old. And elitist. Nothing was better than the old days. Why when I was young ...