Are we too Internet dependent?

The 97.3 KIRO FM newsroom didn’t know what to do when there was an internet outage Thursday. (MyNW.com Photo)

A 9-hour Internet outage in the KIRO FM newsroom made it
very clear how much reporters, producers, and talk show
hosts rely on digital tools. After Ross and Burbank guest host Dave Boze
compared the crash to “an apocalypse,” Luke Burbank asked
“Do you think we’re too internet dependent?”

Clearly, that was true in the newsroom, but Burbank
expanded it so the question applies to everyone.

“Not just as a radio show, but as a society,” Burbank
continued.

“Absolutely,” said Boze.

Burbank said with information being so readily available
via digital channels, he fills nearly every waking minute
with some sort of digital connection or consumption.

“It’s the kind of thing where if I’m out with my special
lady friend and she gets up to go the bathroom, and I’m
sitting at the table at the restaurant, I can’t wait to
whip out my little smart phone,” said Burbank. “I’m not
capable of sitting at a table somewhere by myself, if I
have access to my phone, and not looking at my phone.”

Plus, both hosts have observed cases where people don’t
wait until their partner leaves the table to indulge.

“I’ve noticed that a lot of people are incapable of
sitting at a restaurant with somebody without their phone,
even if that person’s sitting directly across from them,”
said Boze. “It just looks like they don’t care about each
other.”

Boze said at a recent sit down dinner with his nephew, he
couldn’t even communicate with him without use of a
digital medium.

“I’m looking across and the kid is texting on his phone
while people are talking, so I just texted him – ‘Can I
talk to you?'”

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor