Kudos on an excellent read, Judy. You’re so right, from FOMO to Phubbing, old-school interpersonal communication is being lost to digital distraction and addiction. Your astute assessment of smart devices taking over our lives — at the expense of forgoing real communication — applies to all generations, but especially young people. More employers are even assessing candidates “soft skills” like verbal communication as key job criteria. Too many people would rather communicate on Facebook than face to face. This all has serious implications for the well-being of society.

Unfortunately, this trend shows no sign of abating as new technology evolves and becomes more integrated with humans. Smart watches, smart clothes, smart glasses, brain-computer interfaces, neural nano computer chip implants, the merger of biology and technology. This is what futurists predict per the concept of transhumanism. Future communication may occur only via mental telepathy. Welcome to our brave new world, for better or worse.