Warning: rant ahead. I write the blog so give me a little leeway here.

Imagine you were sitting in a beautiful venue listening to one of the Windward Choral Society’s semiannual major concerts. The sound surrounds you and you feel a great sense of wonder and peace. ..and next to you a family of four has their little earbuds in and are all plugged into and staring at an iPhone, paying no attention to the music.

Makes you dumbfounded, doesn’t it? That was the reaction I had when I saw an advertisement during a national TV broadcast for a major internet service provider who will remain nameless (but the company name sorta sounds like “horizon”). There were scenes of all the things you would miss if your cell coverage went away and the looks of horror on the phone users’ faces. It then shifted to a happy family all cuddled up watching a streaming movie using a little projector and the message of “look what you would be missing”, which was followed by a change of perspective showing that the family was inside a tent…and what THEY were missing was a vast expanse of stars filling a crystal-clear night sky.

Hunh?

So the message is “sit indoors and ignore a magical evening under the full glory of the Milky Way”? Wow.

Go outside and play. Go talk to people (in more than 140 characters at a time). Find a live performance of your favorite music and share in the experience with everyone around you. Go be a part of the real world!

Okay, end of rant. Thanks for letting me vent. We now return you to your regularly scheduled podcast/streaming movie/twitter feed/facebook/instargram account.