Today at the train station I was sitting next to a guy on his phone. It didn’t look too strange until you noticed that every other person on the bench was also on their phones scrolling or texting, completely absorbed. I was one of those people. A older woman remarked, rather abruptly, “All you kids are on your machines! DO YOU EVEN COMMUNICATE?” I was the only one who looked up to see her; eyes bulging wildly, hands clutching her trolly. I laughed politely as she cleared her throat in preparation for lecturing us misguided youths. I was quite taken aback by her outrage, all I remember her saying was, “You need to look up! Learn to analyse, get educated!” I felt quite awkward as I thought about how I’m studying media at uni and holding my phone constantly is a way for me to get work done and staying informed.

She has a point though, from now on I’ll try to put down my machine and smell the roses. But it did get me thinking, am I communicated more when I’m perceiving the physical environment I’m in? Or is carrying around a device that keeps me connected to the online world enhancing my “communication.”?

“Do you even communicate? ” is a very loaded question.