Indeed.... a quick trip to Circuit City and everyone in the car can have personal DVD player.... that even one could be a major distraction should be no surprise to anyone (I had this sudden flashback..... it will be 50 years ago this summer.... my sister and I in the back seat of a 49 Dodge as we moved from Camp Borden, Ontario to Vancouver Wireless Station in BC..... The Transcanada Highway wasn't much better than a game trail, back then, and smart people went through the states.... Long distance entertainment was "count the blue cars", Burma Shave signs and colouring books..... ever see what happens to crayons when you leave them on the parcel deck of a black car in North Dakota?).
We only need to listen to the traffic report on our daily commute to hear of all those fools that tried sharing their attention between drving and any other number of tasks. Back when my loving bride and I lived in a major centre, on any given morning you sould see someone reading a newspaper as they drove, someone shaving, applying makeup or even enjoying a "waker-upper" (not the beverage, if you know what I mean.... nudge nudge wink wink).
Rich and his boyfriend/alter-ego seem to be aghast that prices are on the rise (I now earn more in one hour than I used to make in a week at my first full time job) and that modern people are too full of something to pay proper attention to what is happening around them. What they fail to realize is that paying too much attention to minor details has the affect of us losing situational awareness (something I can't afford on my scooter)..... if we pay too much attention to the guy getting a hummer in his jeep, we might not notice his arrival.... both in the carnal sense as well as in OUR lane....
Of course, this is just curmudgeon to curmudgeon and we need not distract others with our ramblings.....
(Sorry, Kate... the jeep thing just "fell out" of my keyboard... Land Rover just didn't sound right)