We've Come Along Way or have we?

I was picking up my girls from school Thursday and was blasted with the cold hard truth! I'm getting old! I'm a measly 27 years old and I don't feel old. I definitely don't look old. But how come the world around me is telling me I'm old! So here is how it went down.

I am walking out of the elementary school with my preschooler and 4th grader. I hear girls laughing outside and then one yells "I'll email you later." WHAT!?! What happened to the good old TELEphone. You know the contraption invented by Alexander Graham Bell. The one invention that as a 4th grader, I DREAMED about having in my own room! Now here these 4th-6th graders are emailing outside of school?

What happened to the good old days when if you wanted to play, you'd ride your bike over? No, instead now we are relying on this new contraption that works as a vacuum. It keeps sucking you in, deeper and deeper. There is just something wrong with this picture! Shouldn't we make them wait til they are at least 15 before they start emailing? Shouldn't we try to push them to have real contact with other people?

Now I'm sure you think this is just crazy talk from a woman that is sitting at a computer AS WE READ! But I still use a phone regularly, I interact with REAL live people regularly, and I do push my girls to do the same. I try to keep them involved in extracurricular activities as well. Now I'm curious, do you think we should be pushing our kids to socially interact outside of the computer as well? Do your own children prefer to email a friend rather than pick up the phone?