I was for walk a bit ago and, while it is a very nice end-of-winter evening with clear skies and bright stars, a thought really stuck in my head that made me feel a bit sad. All my neighbors and their neighbors and their neighbors... well, we live pretty close to one another in similarly small "starter home" type of houses in this first-tier suburb. Now, I know it is still a wintery climate (spring should be here soon, though) but we are all so darn isolated...

...nobody is out and about and the blue flickery light behind everybody's curtains is blunt testimony to the most common activity taking place -- everybody inside their little box watching a little box. Everybody working hard to have a little box to climb into and disconnect by connecting to the tube.
Why don't we all connect to each other? Are we frightened of each other? Do we think we aren't interesting enough to others? Not clever or pretty or funny enough? Do we think everybody else to be annoying nitwits or invasive or boorish?
I am curious why people do this, and yet I am just as guilty as everyone else. I come home from work, sit down in front of my computer (ie: a box) and check email and phone messages (if any), read a bunch of websites, make graphics and/or webpages, beta-test software, write, read, listen to music, watch movies, etc. I don't think I am anti-social but perhaps I have a tendency to lean slightly that way as I enjoy my private time so very much and don't have a problem being alone.
Yet I find myself wanting deeper human interactions. Intense conversations. Heated discussions. Sharing of knowledge and stories. Connecting with others. But the next time I am in a group situation I clam up and mostly listen. Or perhaps just sit quietly in my own space and observe. Or daydream.
I think the problem is that I, and perhaps many others, just never really learned the important keys to good social interaction during younger years. Or maybe we just spend so much time watching TV or with our computers that our interaction skills have grown weak and useless. So we stick to our boxes... which reinforces our weaknesses...
Let us all try to break out of that particular box next time the opportunity presents itself -- I resolve to interact with my neighbors next time I see them or I will actually initiate contact with them and I will learn about their lives, their passions, their stories. And, this is critical, I will listen and remember what they say.