>>3213108It is because of electronic devices being used for social interaction. Technically, they are staring at a small flat box that has light and noise. There's technically no social interaction. It is worse when it is just texting. Not only do they not get audio clues in the voice, but there's no face time either. They start to lose the body language skills and audio cue detection. Instant gratification from this electronic social interaction makes this even worse. It rewards people when normally there wouldn't have been such a reward. Take "lol" as example. Face to face your "lol" would just be a noncommittal "hmph". However, via text the "lol" can mean many things, most all of which are more rewarding to read because the person reading them is psychologically projecting a more positive response to it than what they would get in person. 'Why waste your time with a "hmph" when you can have "lol" all day?' or 'Why make new friends when you have 100 followers online?' That is merely one example out of many. Don't get me started on upvotes, views, and rating systems.
I grew up in the 1980s. When we ate out at McDonald's there were no wireless phones the average person was using. No texting, just nothing. Everyone, and I mean everyone, sat around in the McDonald's talking to people at the other tables. Sometimes people would tell a story and everyone else would listen then join in. In the last few McDonald's I've been in, the only sounds I heard were people giving food orders and phones beeping and vibrating. A few couples would ask a question, but not really converse all that much. Everyone had a phone, even the children.
