#15

Think of the father and son separated by an ocean, one in England, the other in Newfoundland. This is where the telephone plays a role. It facilitates an almost instantaneous connection at a reasonable cost, and bridges a gap. Fortunately, this is now made possible by satellite systems launched into orbit by a recently developed rocket deployment system. Aside from this, people should attempt to communicate with people in their immediate surroundings more often, and use the more up-to-date technology sparingly, and only when appropriate. If a walk is taken down the street, or perhaps a ride on the subway, there will always be people seen with Walkmans or similar escapism devices. People are turning off the world, blotting it out, and turning to their own drummer. This in turn, affects their listening skills. In fact, listening to a Walkman over the halfway point for more than forty minutes a day, three days a week, is a leading contributor to permanent hearing loss. This syndrome can also be taken relate to television watching, especially in this day and age when we have Much Music broadcast all over the country. A short attention span and a lack of concentration are other factors in this ongoing problem. With the introduction of the remote control television, not more than fifteen years ago, people have had the opportunity to change stations as soon as the action isn't as fast as they'd like it, or to skip over commercials. So, it affects other people too, as they have to put up with those who only hear them when they want to, or on the second time around. Also, on dates, couples are turning more and more to impersonal activities and lifestyles like being entertained by all the latest high-tech equipment such as video games, computers and movies. This doesn't promote much conversation, because each person is just sitting, watching, as if they were there alone.