What’s The Opposite of Electronic Surveillance?

I have written before about how teenagers and twenty-somethings act while sitting across from each other in public places such as coffee shops. Quite often each party’s gaze is riveted to one of their electronic devices, and not a word is exchanged. Not with each other, at any rate. 

Well, I saw it again the other day in the café at my Barnes & Noble, but this time with a twist. A man and woman sat at a table and each was deeply involved with their respective iPads. The only difference from the norm was that this man and woman were pushing 70. Hell, they could have been pulling it for all I know; I’m not a good judge of age. Suffice it to say they both had gray hair. 

It’s a widely known truism that the longer a couple is married, the less sparkling the conversation tends to be. The cliché has the man barricading himself behind the sports section of the newspaper while the woman reads her magazine. That’s yesterday’s version of ignoring someone. Not these folks. No analog ignoring for them, no sir. They had dived into the 21^st century head first and were ignoring each other electronically.

It’s a known fact that older Americans have embraced technology. These two just weren’t showing any inclination to embrace each other.