This is a great video...

http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z7dLU6fk9QY

Who down thumbed me for that?  I was quoting a part of the video that jumped out at me & was even going to put an LOL after it.   I thought it was an apt & poignant phrase for these times.
You don't think so?  Why didn't you post and say why you disagreed & we could have had a discussion?

 You just ruined my pure score.   :cry:

I think I figured it out:

The poor downthumber thought that what I posted was my thoughts and not a quote from the video.
Since he isn't a smart phone, he must be the dumb person referred to and was offended by the truth & took it personal!  I'm thinking it may have been poor benighted Andy or someone like him.

That he didn't know the difference proves the point of smart phones, dumb people!

I like this too.  I've watched it several times, looking for reasons to criticize it, but I can't fairly do it!  It's easy to say it's sentimental, or Luddite, blah blah blah.  But the truth is sometimes difficult for us to see.  It really is well done.  

The other day something really disturbing happened - not once, but twice.  On a bus I overheard the driver muttering to himself audibly for about 20 minutes between announcements, which were all said very calmly.  It was the first time I've ever heard someone at their job talking to themselves audibly with other people nearby, for such a long time.  I kept thinking he'll stop any second, but he didn't.  The one thing I could make out was the word 'pontificate'.

On the return trip, believe it or not, a lady security guard got on and she did the same thing, for another 20 minutes.  Among other things she said 'People in this city are stupid'.  

Both times I looked around to see if anyone else noticed, expecting to see at least one or two others because each time it was crowded, and there was no other loud noise - but no one seemed to notice.  I guess they thought what they overheard was one end of a conversation.  But both times I looked for wires or microphones and saw exactly none on either of them.  

The thing that was so disturbing was that both of them seemed otherwise to be perfectly sane.  And they were both in uniform.  They were coherent, but angry to distraction.

The downward turned heads is really disturbing.  People don't seem to care enough to pay attention to their surroundings even to keep themselves safe.

The saddest things I'm seeing nowadays is mothers with their children.  Both are walking along but the mother isn't paying the least bit of attention to the child because she's on her phone.  Sometimes the child will try to talk to the mother to show her something or ask a question but the mother brushes the child aside or completely ignores him.  He has to beg & beg for the mother to listen to him.  At a restaurant I saw a mother on one side of the table & a teenage daughter on the other side.  That mother said not one word to the daughter throughout the meal until the very end when she asked if she was finished & they left.  The mother was on the phone the whole time.   I'm not kidding.  It's almost too sad for words.  

I hope this relates somewhat to your post. I have a little gadget called "TV-B-Gone." It looks like a car remote but is actually a remote control that works on most TVs (on and off only). Any time I have to go to the doctor or any other appointment and there's a TV blaring (which is always), I just pull it out, press the button, and wait for the fun to begin. Receptionists will come out and check the TV (Heaven forbid that there not be noise at every second), and nearly every person who was sitting there staring at the Idiot Box will immediately pull out a phone or tablet. Pity the poor souls who forgot their phones and might actually have to converse with someone or read.