Apple: Do you mean the fruit or the computer?

Lately all over the morning TV shows, there has been a ton of talk about the absence of civility in our society. Due to the advancement of cell phones, iPads, Kindles, and the like, our society now finds it practical to walk down the street with our heads facing downward into the abyss of social networks and text messages.

So you wonder why this is even an issue if everyone else is doing it? I can tell you that although people are totally checked out of the world around them, they still remain ill-tempered and apathetic to it. And what the heck does that mean?

Hypothetical: You are walking through the mall this holiday season and not one but two people in a row bump straight into you. Now this is not your typical bump, this is a sideswipe from a mom who is texting her daughter to meet for lunch in the food court, and t-bone from a 50-something single businessman who is tweeting how much he loathes the mall aside from the fact that he can strike up a convo in the linen section.

Now, I don't know about you, but I myself would say "excuse me" while trying to suppress the flat out impending temper tantrum that is imminent upon my next breath. But needless to say, the offenders fail to suppress their feelings and lash out before you can blink. What the crap is their problem?

They bumped into you. They failed to engage in their environment. They displayed a complete lack of civility. And so you are then left to wonder the age old question of "what has this world come to?"--and yes you are now officially of the age to ask such a question (speaking to my fellow peers in their late twenties and early thirties).

During my time of unemployment, I have had plenty of time to utilize the social networks for subject matter for this blog. About a week ago I came across a post from a "friend" who linked this page:

George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation
*Read the rules and see what your missing.  If only there were an app for that.

Yes, our forefather GW--of the apple kind not Texas, is the patriarch of our country and our social structure.  We have failed him America.  Granted some of these rules are a little out there because lets face it they didn't have toothpaste in those days (read the rules and that will make sense), and it was a much simpler time.

But I ask you, does our presently complicated society mean that we can excuse bad behavior?  I think not.  I really try to make a conscious effort to treat others the way I would like to be treated.  I consider myself pretty self aware, and because of this, I intend to create an environment around myself that lends to happiness and positivity.  By this I mean: I don't blare my headphone music on airplanes, I hold doors open for others when entering and exiting a building, I say please and thank you to service employees, and I let random strangers know if their outfit is cute or if they have TP on their shoe (insert pat on the back).

In my oh so humble opinion, I feel that you do in some way create your world and we know for sure that the very environment that you live will impact your life.  So then I ask, why the heck would anyone want to be so disconnected from society that they now blame others for their discrepancies?  Their connection to Facebook and twitter have become more important than manners, and then they get mad and post about it.

I will give some people the benefit of the doubt that they simply were distracted and are polite people, but then there are the citizens that actually use their mobile device as a divider between their internal and external worlds.  We have even become so detached that we can't even call someone on their birthday because a public acknowledgment on Facebook give us more satisfaction because others can see that you made the effort.

There are arguments for both sides, and I have weighed both.  I would still like to advise everyone to Sign-in to their real social network every once in a while, you know the one that works without wi-fi?!  Or at least sit down on a bench and update your status to include how many people you see walk by in a 2 min period with their heads down--double points for collisions.