An Eerie Silence

“Final call for flight 2584 to Detroit.” “No smoking allowed except in the designated areas.” “Helen Smith, please return to the security area to retrieve your lost item.” These were random announcements I heard at the Louisville airport while waiting to board the plane to Atlanta where we would wait again to catch another plane to Raleigh. These were about the only indications that anyone actually had the ability to verbally communicate to another person. I sat, looking around, watching the people, maybe 200 of them waiting as I was, and I wondered  where they were from, what would be their final destination, just something interesting that we might have in common. But no one seemed to want to talk. There was an eerie library like silence that would be broken only by another announcement that boarding would begin in five minutes.

Almost everyone stood or sat with heads bowed, eyes firmly fixed on their thin rectangular devices, cell phones. Not one person looked up to notice anyone around them. No one made eye contact with the people near them. Not anyone spoke a word. Fifteen young to middle aged men stood as near the entrance to where we would board the plan as they could, texting  or reading something on their devices not a one of them looking up for fear, I guess, that they might make eye contact with someone else. I wanted to yell out my school teacher command as I would have to students not paying attention, “Put those blasted phones down and notice someone, speak to someone, even smile at someone for goodness sake!” But of course I didn’t. I returned to my book. Sherri was also reading her book. We were the only ones not looking down at a cell phone. I suppose if anyone might have happened to look up and notice us, they would have thought we were quite weird not bowing down to the almighty cell phone.