It's a Virtual Life

Stimulated by my ongoing disagreement with my 18+ year old child, I've wandered into this idea that we've a whole generation (probably more) that are missing out on life. Plugged in to technology and the "World Wide Wasteland" or busying themselves in front of an ever more inane set of television "reality" and other shows, the days pass blissfully by. Will they one day wake up and find that the mind control they've been under has led them to old age without ever having lived. What does that say about the life lessons that are never to be learned and thus never to be converted to wisdom? What will they pass on to the generation after them? Will they pass on a spiritual tradition or just another performance? Virtual living - I see it not just in my own child, but in his generation. I mentioned before how colleges are teaching students how to interact verbally. How to ask each other on dates and how to develop relationships. The saddest piece of all of this is that with the growing on-line university movement, even that part of connecting may soon be a thing of the past (like the Do-do and the Passenger Pigeon). Why am I so worried about this? Primarily because for the previous 10,000 years of human existence we have been depedent on each other for survivial. Working together we have solved (and then created new) problems. The art of compromise was what carried us along and helped to eveolve and transform us. Now what will we do. If I even have a virtual assistant (aka Siri) do I actually even have to communicate with a living human? All religions are focused on helping us create and maintain right relationships with G-d and with each other. The traditions and texts reinforce our interdependence and our inability to be everything to everybody. Without this we will be lost and alone and we will cease to exist. There will be no one looking out for another and one-by-one (or in great gobs in the next world war) we will be eliminated or subjegated - probably both. Technology is wonderful but not as a replacement for G-d and for other people. Time to call our dependence on technology what it is...idol worship. If you don't know what to do about that, come to any faith community and ask. Peace for the journey, Dan