a week in a hotel has really opened my cultural eyes. Like most hotels, this one offers a REALLY crappy breakfast (which I tried the first day and have never been back), and the MSU (Mendelian Spousal Unit) has noticed that very few people there interact with other humans at all—they just look at their phones.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am NOT a Luddite. Back in the day I used to build computers for myself. I was a very early PC owner. I have a smart phone. I am writing this on a tablet. Later today, I will Internet in to work, using firewalls and a VPN.
But here at breakfast, it was QUITE clear that people were in crowds, but totally socially isolated. It seems that their love for their fellow human beings has grown cold. It was not a calculated hatred for others—it was garden-variety disinterest.