As I stood in the hallway of a doctor’s office recently I was reminded of the line from Cool Hand Luke spoken to Paul Newman’s Luke by the Captain, ” What we have here is a failure to communicate.

At the other end of the hall a family was being checked in by one of the medical assistants. One by one the husband, wife and two teenagers, a boy and a girl, took their turns weighing in and having their vitals checked.

What struck me was the fact that as each of the kids finished with the weigh-in, they immediately opened their phones and started texting to unseen people while ignoring their parents, the medical professionals and each other.

I wonder what we are thinking. Technology meant to help us stay connected is keeping us in touch in only the most superficial ways.

I spoke with another physician about this recently and he expressed his concern that our “failure to communicate” is really more serious as we have a generation lacking the skill of face to face interaction.

Now I have to finish this entry, check my email and facebook status….