"Hello, is it me you're looking for..."

I was talking with a co-worker last night and she stated that a few of her family members and friends said that she should get a Facebook page.  She asked me what I got out of it and I told her that one of my main uses for it was to be able to interact with friends and family back home.  I also use it to interact with people that I met on other social networking sites.  She then posed the question, "What happened to people calling each other?"  And I got to thinking, what DID happen to people calling each other?

We have become a society spoiled by technology.  We want our food cooked faster.  We want people to be able to reach us, even while we're using the restroom.  We want our internet faster.  Hell, we want internet.  But being that we have all of this technology within reach, have we also become social snobs?  What happened to people getting together and talking or picking up the phone with the long ass cord that always got tangled up and talking to someone for hours and hours about absolutely nothing?

I also think that this "instant" society has a lot to do with why relationships aren't what they used to be. Remember when people used to meet at a public place, like a bar, grocery store, church or at a friend's house and you took the time to get to know someone through phone calls, visits, DATES and what have you?  Now, you can do everything online:  Meet, talk, even have a virtual date by watching a movie "together".  How impersonal is that?  Now, don't get me wrong...the internet is a great way to meet someone and get to know someone, especially when the pickings are slim in your everyday life.  But after you meet and get to know someone, what's wrong with getting together for a meal or a movie or just plain conversation like they did in the "olden" days? 

Maybe I'm asking too much.  Maybe I'm stuck in my ways and don't want to accept that things have changed.  Or maybe I feel that some things are worth working for and towards and a relationship, whether lover-to-lover, friend-to friend, or relative-to relative, fall into that category.  Or maybe I give us humans too much credit.  I guess my rose-colored glasses need cleaning.