Disconnected

So I walked around the library, and the canteen observing people and the way they were using their phones.
I kept noticing their body language, whether they were texting or talking on the phone they immediately disengaged from whatever they were doing, unless they were just walking which they continued to do so. People did stop sometimes, mid walk to pull out their phones and glare at the number.
I also noticed some of my friends and the way they behave when someone calls. The most common was to just glance at the number and say hello, one of my friends cursed when she saw who was calling and threw her phone back in purse. Another told me that she screens every call that comes in because she has a stalker that keeps calling her. Most other people would answer their calls, become steely eyed and fidget with whatever they were holding. They actually seemed to leave this world mentally and were somewhere else for a while, sometimes just walking in a circle, smiling or frowning their attention far far away.
The exception to this was in the library where around the computers at least calls were urgent and shushed. The girl sitting next to me would keep glancing around to see if anyone saw her, and cut her call quickly. Someone else had her phone in her hand and was walking around the shelves poking her head around every now and then to see whos calling.
There were a few people playing with their psps/nintendos at the canteen, and on the mtr over the weekend. They disengaged completely from the world around them. My roomate who plays with his nintendo sometimes doesnt even know if I'm talkign to him, he is so focussed. One of the saddest sights I saw was at a mcdonalds once where this really fat man was sitting across his girlfriend playing on his psp while his girlfriend fed him french fries. He was totally engrossed in the game, and neither of them were talking. I thought that was the saddest sight I had seen, like a commercial for obesity and lack of reality rolled into one. I thought, "if this is the future, what hope do we have?" I really do think portable games are a waste of time, but then I think video games are too. At what point do we realise that we're too disconnected from reality? Portable video games arent a substitute for real life, our lives shouldnt be that bad that we need such an escape from it.
This class has also made me reflect on the use of mp3s, ipods and portable music. I love my music on the go, walking around central or mongkok listening to music is one of my favorite things to do because i am engaged in the world yet i feel like i am apart from it. Whatever sights I see, seem like the music video to whatever song im listening to, it's so much more pleasant. Most people who I saw listening to their music, were quite attentive to the world, visually at least.
This has all left me curious, what kind of future are we going to see? I'm imaging something like the matrix...