To be honest, there are parts of technology that are a little suspect and are more due to magic then science—flight being a prime example. Every time I see a large jet take off I can not help but believe that it has no business getting off the ground let alone fly. You can not convince me that some very complex (and possibly alien) spell or magic is at work here and that the veneer of science is just thrown in to make everyone comfortable.

Wait! While I'm thinking about it a little side note regarding airport security: I suspect that people with a bomb in their shoe are reluctant to tap dance. I can't help thinking that this information might be useful.

It is no great news that all of this technology has had some unforeseen consequences. It is clear that it simultaneously brings us closer together and isolates us as well. A case in point is the cell phone. Their proliferation has been staggering and they are now an integral part of large sections of society. They have at the same time gotten smaller and so laden with devices that they have disconnected many of us from our immediate surroundings. Some much so, that I can navigate any city street, supermarket or park while immersed in some inane dialogue that in all likelihood could have waited.

For me, their decreasing size is their most unsettling aspect. They are now reduced to simple headsets and I can easily envision them becoming merely chips implanted somewhere between the mouth and ear. When that day comes, it will likely require the user to activate and deactivate the phone via a series of disturbing facial twitches that are sure to simultaneously unsettle and amuse those nearby.

We are not quite there yet of course. No, currently we are now simply at the phase where many are moving towards those "head sets/ear clip" phones. These "clips" are of course cutting edge, ultra-hip devices that allow the wearer to be in constant contact with their posse/support group. To my eyes they also leave the wearer looking like an animal that been tagged for scientific study and released back into the wild. This may in fact be a worthy research endeavor and if one were disposed to believe in governmental conspiracy theories, then what better way for them to track the "verbally effusive" then to by these electronic talk tags.

Certainly, I would like to study their habits and examine ways to remove them from the collective gene pool. Given their disconnected, self-involved attitude towards their immediate environment it would appear to be a simple matter to simply walk up to them, bag them and haul them off to the Aleutian Islands. Yes, at first blush, that may appear cruel but I'm guessing that there wouldn't even be a break in their conversation. Indeed, we may be able to simply herd them unto a waiting bus and drive them there. In my experience these phonaddicts either walk very quickly with a total disregard of those around them, or ambulate in a slow, unfocused manner, as if their minds and resources were simply overwhelmed by concept of doing two things at once, walking and talking.

As it is, it is already extremely difficult to separate the clearly insane from the pathologically "chatty" and merely rude. I can not express the relief that I feel when I verify that the person next to me in some public setting is talking into a headset rather then loudly hashing things out with the voices in their heads. Clearly, if I chose to have dialogue with another personality locked in my disturbed head, I would wear such a headset and pretend that I was actually talking to a real person. Who knows, perhaps the more lucid among truly crazy have already adopted this stratagem.

I tend to believe that cell phones, for many, are an addiction that feeds into their huborous. It takes a special type of self absorbed individual to feel the need to discuss literally everything they are doing with someone. Conversely, it takes a completely different type of lunacy to be on the other end listening to and enabling them. I may be wrong on this last item of course. It may be that the other person is simply being ill-mannered at some other venue, maybe they are simply in a different part of the same store.

Inevitably, the cell user "packages" their gracelessness with a handful of equally tactless behavior. Apparently, it is not enough that they inflict their half of the conversation with those around them. Frequently, they are pushy in ways that would be unattractive in a public venue for a four year old and when they climb into a car, the real fun begins.

In the end, I'll confess that my feelings about a generation of people bereft of the ability to simply shut up are mixed. Clearly, if you feel that you must constantly talk or be spoken to in order to validate your existence and navigate this sphere, you likely missing everything that happens that has nothing to do with you. On the other hand, stop talking already, you are not nearly as interesting as you think.