Attack of the cell phone zombies

I felt like I was in a real-life video game.

Dodging zombies left and right as I tried to make my way down the hallway of an academic building on our college campus.  A class must have just ended as about 20 to 25 students were making their way down towards me.

Plenty of room, right? No way.  It was an obstacle course of sorts to elude every single one who were more focused on their cell phones than watching where they were going.

Seriously, the President of the United States could have been walking down the hallway, but he would have had no trouble enjoying a peaceful, uninterrupted stroll because nobody would have noticed.

I can't be too critical without sounding hypocritical as I rely heavily on my own smart phone to keep in touch with important emails and messages, as well as the latest scores. I'm a news and information junkie and I do find myself checking on the phone quite often.

Survey's by the Pew Research Center indicates that 80 percent of adults have a cell phone, and recent data shows that the number of cell phones in out-numbers the U.S. population.  I would believe it.

It's an important part of today's society. Advances in technology has certainly helped make our lives easier to stay connected, but it has also consumed our daily lives and in a way, ironically, hurt our ability to, of all things: communicate.

We'd rather email or text rather than pick up a phone and make a call. We'd rather send an instant message to someone just down the hall than get up and take a walk to visit face to face. And when we do have an encounter with an individual, the conversations are awkward and difficult.

So is this an improvement.  I'll let you know once I figure out how to safely navigate the hallways in between classes.

Look out.