I wrote this essay about a year ago and thought I would share it with others. What do you think?

Perpetual Connection to the Void

The urge to fit in begins in infancy. Crawlers stand due to basic instinctive activators. However, the basic instinct to stand and walk upright is also perhaps motivated by the fact that everyone else is doing this. People learn how to behave at the fundamental level by observation and imitation. This capacity to absorb behavioral cues from the people around us begins our odyssey towards identification within the larger group and as an individual within the group.
A person’s temperament will develop with age. Every person comes into being with certain factors built into their psyche. Will I follow without thought to fit in or soar off above the crowd as the observer? The desire to fit in starts with those first steps. Let me join in, walk and talk. Talk and walk at the same time.
As with many trends in society, the latest is indeed to talk and walk to an unseen someone else in full view of anyone passing by. The annoyance that is sometimes manifested towards the cell phone user needs to be put into perspective. In my own day to day existence, my mind generates thoughts based on truths and mostly on what ifs. Who am I talking to? I talk to my psyche the thing that fills the space that is presently known as me. The space is void of substance yet contains the essence of me. When I talk to myself, I am connected to my void, the part of me that transcends all present reality and is perpetual in concept. When I talk and interact with other people, the silent language to myself becomes projected verbally to another. People tend to talk simply because we can. And, to fill that void between two people and connect within a world of our own. Lots of people take comfort in this action.
Extending this basic human habit of talking to another is of course, a natural when it comes to cell phones. Sure, there is a bit of the fad around this action. Perhaps it allows some people to feel connected to others even though from the outside they appear to be talking to themselves in a most bizarre manner. The common neglect seen of being in a public place and not being dissuaded by others right to privacy may be a need to make sure people know you have someone to connect to. Perhaps it is trendy, ego satisfying or a way to fit into the crowd. Cell phones appeared on everyone’s ear suddenly. The cost for this ability must have dropped to common consumer levels. Or, the desire to talk and walk at the same time was overwhelmed by a need to do what the next person is doing. Never mind if it is necessary to the life. The need to connect internally and externally is constant in some people. Let me follow, let me be one among many, let me be seen having a perpetual connection to the void of space between my thought and the thoughts of others through this little device.
However, I take great pride in soaring above the crowd. As with some people and television, I hear myself boast if given the chance that I do not own a cell phone. Gasp, gasp is the common reply. Yes, I am a laggard to modern technological trends. I detect a desire to be contrary just because they are as common as dandelions. What is so special about talking to another person anyway? What are you doing and why are you including me in it? Do I lack a need to connect? No, I just love the void. I love the nothingness of nobody talking to me and accept that I soar with the basic need to be disconnected. I am connected quite deeply to my psyche. My best friend is the place inside of me where I can fill myself with thoughts, energy or whatever comes. I am the vessel, the void perpetually connected to that which is. How very Zen to say I am connected to nothing. How extraordinary I have become in my basic human habits to be with my own thoughts as I walk. Talking to myself is one of my favorite pastimes. The idea of inviting another voice into that great void is disturbing. Interrupt my rich internal world by the pollution of another persons random thoughts just because of a desire to not be alone even for one moment in the void: Nada.

Cell phones are here for now. They communicate wants, needs, desires and the nothing that makes talk something. Those disruptive little devices that confuse the barriers of private public space. The rudeness factor that I equate with cell phones has to be tempered by the basic human need to stand up, walk and do what everyone else is doing. Some of us must follow or we are lost. Some of us must soar off or we are lost. Either way, each person finds the perpetual connection to the void through the action of talking or not talking. Fini