My Digital Fortress

I first started noticing two things when I turned 60: the indifference of younger people and the emergence of digital toys.

The indifference is the act of being ignored to the point of being walked into on the sidewalk by a teenager who obviously could not see me. Or, more likely, did not recognize me as a fellow human being.

The digital toys are manifested by i-Everything-Annoying (iPod, iPhone, iPad... I hope Steve Jobs is soon buried in an appropriately extravagant iCoffin).

Fine, I decided. If the young can surround themselves with digital moats, so can I. I bought a knockoff MP3 player (NOT an iPod!)
and a Kindle eBook reader. Now when I go for my daily walks, I plug in the MP3 player until I reach my destination coffee shop or restaurant, at which time I unplug the player from my ears and unsling my Kindle from its carrying pouch.

I sit at my table alone and read while having my coffee and/or breakfast. If nearby conversations get too loud, I plug the MP3 player back into my ears.

I am now beginning to understand the young a little better. They isolate themselves from a world full of negatives: no job, no money, ... no hope.

I isolate myself because I'm invisible anyway, like Mr. Cellophane. Also, the conversations I hear are usually annoying. Either some knucklehead ranting on about the government, or some twenty-something who cannot complete a sentence without the use of "like."

My digital fortress isn't all that bad, but others abuse their fortress.

Today as I was walking into a restaurant, I heard someone say, "Hey, you can't do that!" Startled a bit, I whirled around, only to nearly bump into the man behind me who was talking to the bluetooth device crammed into his ear. He looked a bit sheepish and pointed to his ear in way of explanation. Irritating, to say the least, the attitudes of people on cell phones borders on rude, sometimes crossing that border. It is as if they feel immune to the norms for courtesy and simple respect for others. They are in their digital fortress and the rest of the world doesn't matter.