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Tune In, Turn Off

By Kevin Bushweller

The other day, I got in the car with my 13-year-old son to drive to a middle school club hockey game. Seconds after buckling up, he adjusted his iPod and was quickly immersed in the sounds of his generation, uninterested in participating in any conversation with me. I slid a CD into my car stereo, and we drove to the game in separate musical worlds.

About an hour later, I was in the locker room when a cell phone rang. Then another. And then another. The annoying, distracting ring tones disrupted an important conversation I was having with one of the players before the game.

I was more than a bit irritated by the social isolation created by the iPod. And why would middle school boys, ages 12 or 13, need to be carrying cell phones on a Saturday night when their parents were at the game anyway? It felt like...