"I'm so lonely....you what?"

I keep reading about how more and more people feel lonely and isolated. About how they often don't talk to anyone for days or even weeks. And yet, is it any wonder when so many people go about with earphones stuck in their ears?

When I walk through the park or even through town sometimes, I might greet individual people. A quick "Morning" and a smile or a nod means that you acknowledge a person as they pass by. Often, though, the person just doesn't respond as they just don't hear you. 

And it's not just the younger people either. In a gym a while back, I complimented someone on their T-shirt and the older woman had to take the earphones out of her ears so that she could actually hear what I had said. Fortunately, I had stood in her line of sight and she had seen that my lips had moved. 

It's hard to have a conversation or even exchange a few bright and cheery words if people go round with their ears focused not on the world around them, but on something else entirely. 

You can't complain that no-one talks to you if you can't hear the words that they do say to you.