I think this can be made into a very empirical line of reasoning. Measure what people spend their time thinking about. Track this over time. The author of thi

I think this can be made into a very empirical line of reasoning. Measure what people spend their time thinking about. Track this over time. The author of this feels that people feel less and less about external realities and more and more about virtual ones. I don't think you need to be an old fogey or a puritan to draw some conclusions in this area. Yes, the argument is anecdotal. Stereotyping those who might agree with it doesn't make it any more or less valid or interesting. Another line of attack is to say this has been going on forever: people observing the way society is changing and saying that it's becoming terribly self-absorbed. That's true, but like the boy who cried wolf, eventually the wolf actually shows up, and it's not a good thing for anybody involved.