1338 Communimicate

There’s no doubt we communicate differently these days. Hooked up to every sort of modern contraption and information-gathering service. Unfortunately, if you’re on things like Gmail or Facebook, little robots constantly assess your web visits and email content, and offer you appropriate ads to “enhance” your experience.
And sell that service to advertisers. One woman reported she bought a pair of shoes online and an ad for that brand followed her around the internet for two weeks. I’m used to ads in every conceivable venue. But ads that are web-stalkers?
I guess I’m okay with running into an ad at a park bench or urinal, but somehow I’m not comfortable with the idea of an advertisement stalking me.
Speaking of unsettling communication, I saw this homeless woman with a sign asking for “any help” folks could offer. But she was ducked behind her sign. We she stuck her head up I noticed her hiding something in her pocket. It was a cellphone, and judging by the size and screen surface, it was an iPhone.
Dang. Even homeless people have more modern phones than I do.
I think I saw the future of communication not long after that. I was walking downtown and noticed a person in front of me who had tattooed on her back a long passage of something or another. Like a block of print. I wasn’t close enough to read it, but it must have been important, enough to tattoo it on her back for life.
So is this the future? When they’re old, they won’t be able to hear because they blew out their hearing with earbuds. They won’t text because arthritis will cramp up their thumbs.
They’ll only be able to communicate by tattoo.
America, ya gotta love it.