Selfied Out

I'm sure no one would be surprised, but man, our culture has become so self absorbed. A couple weeks ago we went to Nashville, home of the Batman Building. It's claimed the architect did not realize he was designing a building which would look as if Batman was watching over the entire city.

We were in the city for four nights attended the CMAFest, which is basically four days and nights of country concerts.  The nightly concerts are at LP Stadium and each night features some big names in country music such as Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and then some up and coming new artists also.

But what I found fascinating was the people watching.  The assigned seating means that you end up watching the same people around you all four nights. 

Such was the case of a really young girl that sat in front of us.  She was with an older big, bulky weight lifting fiend of a guy who seemed as if he could not have cared less if she was next to him.  I understood, because what we first noticed was her gorgeous short black hair.  It was impossible not to notice because she flipped her hair every 10 seconds or so.  It was a really irritating habit which I tried hard not to roll my eyes each time she did, or I would have been very dizzy by the end of the evening.

She looked about 16, but she might have been older.  The hulk sitting next to her looked late 20's.  And she would not leave him alone.  She was constantly poking him with her fingers, pinching his arm, touching his face not in a caress but as if the only thing she knew to do was try to irritate him.  Which it did.  There was never a sign of affection between the two, but it was obvious they were a couple.  A couple that didn't stand a chance in the long run. 

She, and soooo many others spent the entire weekend grabbing their cell phones and taking selfies.  A LOT of selfies.  I would bet half of the people sitting around us took more selfies that anyone would even need. 

Hulk's girlfriend had a Samsung phone, which I noticed most of the younger generation seems to be switching to.  She would then have to post every selfie to some social media, either Facebook or Twitter or something called My Stories.  I wasn't sure of what that last one was, maybe it's a Samsung thing.

The selfie stick made it's appearance all over the stadium.  Maybe I'm just becoming one of those old people who scream at kids, "Get off my lawn", but why spend a lot of money attending a bunch of concerts and then not pay any attention to the actual shows. 

Now there were some artists that I could have not wasted my time, but when Carrie Underwood or Keith Urban are performing, you really should be in the moment.  Not snapping some poorly posed picture of yourself with a huge jumbotron behind you showing the artist. 

It's not that it shows how self absorbed you are, but it's really irritating to the people around you.  We've created a generation that has to record their every moment and share it with the world.  LOOK UP.  You might actually just enjoy the show.

Especially if you're a straight guy.