Obsession with eLife is crimping real lives

Maybe you've noticed. Almost overnight we have become one eNation, under God, with Liberty and Twitter for all.

How's eLife treating you? Do you Facebook, Google, MySpace, Flickr, Twitter, blog, Skype, Yahoo, text, e-mail, YouTube, Wii, Warcraft? Or are you still learning Pong?

All this technology has changed the world, but here's what I wonder: Is it progress?

Admittedly, I don't have much of an eLife. I don't Twitter, Skype or Wii, and I thought Flickr was a horse. I don't know what to do when I receive e-mails that say, "Bob has added you as a friend on Facebook." And this means what?

So maybe I'm missing out. But I don't really believe that.

I can't help but think we're losing something as we're drawn inexorably down the eHighway. I realize much of it has value, but I wonder if it's worth the trade-offs.

You can make friends without ever seeing their faces or hearing their voices. Teen boys prefer to ask girls on dates via text. Isn't he missing out if he doesn't experience the anxiety and risk of asking a girl to the movies while looking into her eyes — or at least her shoes?

You can "play" sports and never leave the house or break a sweat. How can Wii and Madden replace pickup games in the driveway or back yard, learning to get along, being part of a team, hustling and developing our bodies? I can hear our kids getting fatter.

You can replace social interaction by meeting people online from the safety of your home. I read recently that if MySpace were a country, it would be the fifth largest in the world. Isn't there some merit in meeting people personally and enjoying their physical presence?

You can waste your time being entertained on the Web and never develop talents or your knowledge. You can become a virtual musician by playing Guitar Hero and never have to practice. But pressing colored buttons on a plastic guitar isn't the same thing as learning to play the real thing. That's the way it is with shortcuts. Every kid should have his mother nag him this question: "Have you practiced piano today?"

Someone actually said this to me in defense of the eLife: "Maybe somebody doesn't play piano, but instead they cut and recut music digitally. We have to get over preset notions." How can that compare to the pleasure of hearing yourself play "Canon in D" on the piano with your own hands, or even "Chopsticks" for that matter?