Cell Service on the Subway: We’re On the Wrong Track

Today, the New York City Transit Authority unveiled a limited trial of cell phone access in a select number of Manhattan subway platforms. If all goes according to plan, the MTA aims to have cell service available at every station in the city by 2016.

Is anybody else disturbed by this so-called “advancement” in communication? Sure, people will be able to conduct more calls, send more texts and exchange more emails. But guess what? Now people will pay even less attention to those standing right next to them.

In a city of 8 million people, it’s completely bonkers to think how isolated we have become. Take a look around next time you’re outside- what do you see? Folks walking face-down, eyes and fingers engrossed in handheld devices with ear buds jammed into heads. Everyone’s completely wrapped up in their own digital worlds, completely oblivious to what’s around them.

In 2000, Harvard Professor Robert Putnam wrote his landmark book Bowling Alone, in which he starkly – and shockingly – illustrated America’s rapid decline in community involvement and civic engagement from previous generations, as people instead choose to spend their leisure time in private. I don’t think Professor Putnam could have predicted the huge impact mobile communication technology would have on how people interact with the world barely a decade after publishing his book.

For New Yorkers, the subway is the one respite we have from being constantly “plugged in” – a temporary oasis away from the beeping, pinging and attention-hogging toys we all carry in our pockets – forcing us to do what people on this planet have been doing for thousands of years up until now: engage with one another face to face.

With this final sanctuary gone, the digital tether will become the new reality; future generations will believe that normal, everyday communication is conducted with not only whoever is next to you, but anyone on Earth.

The problem is that we humans aren’t designed that way.

1. Have you ever tried talking to someone who is typing away with someone else? How did that feel?

1. Isn’t it weird to ride a subway or bus next to somebody who doesn’t even realize you’re there, because they are listening to their iPod at full blast?

1. How many times a day do you have near-misses with somebody walking directly at you, because they are mid-keystroke? Do they even look at you when they apologize? Do they apologize at all?

Is all of this really supposed to be considered “normal” interpersonal communication? Will our kids think it’s normal to text or Skype friends during dinner? Will it be perfectly acceptable to send emails in the middle of a Broadway show or opera performance? Will anybody even care where they are or who they’re physically with anymore?

I don’t know about you, but I think we’re headed towards a place where it will become harder and harder to be “human.” In both the workplace and at home, how will people learn the art of face-to-face communication? What will become of listening skills, or nonverbal cues? Where will we learn about making good in-person impressions?

Today, we are entering a dark new phase in the evolution of mankind’s communication skills. I just hope there is light at the end of the subway tunnel.