'Life' in the lift

Gone are the days when people used to greet each other irrespective of whether they knew each other or not. Or so it seems whenever I take the lift. Journey in the lift hardly lasts a minute. But I notice that everybody is uncomfortable and wants to get out of it as quickly as possible. Not only that, everybody makes a conscious effort to not even glance at each other, lest they might be in an 'awkward' position - not knowing whether to smile, whether to say hello or just look away. God forbid, if anybody does end up looking at someone eye-to-eye, they invariably choose the last option i.e. look away. People even go to the extent of acting as if they are 'texting' someone, or staring at their own shoe, or even better, simply closing their eyes and waiting for their 'floor' to arrive. But the attempt that beats all of this is the constant staring at the LED display in the lift that shows which 'floor' is next. It surely seems strange to me that people find it more comfortable to look at that non-living thing pointlessly than offering a simple smile to the other occupants of the lift. After all, aren't they also human and won't they reciprocate? And even if they don't, what do you lose?? Isn't it any day better than consciously striving to avoid human beings by taking the aid of small nothings in the lift? And they say its a global village.. To me, its so near yet so far.. Don't we prefer to 'ping' people than even talking to them on phone??

I often wonder if the excessive invasion of technology in our lives is resulting in all this.. Guess its a never-ending debate... Technology, surely is a necessary evil and now , a resident evil :P.. And the reason I am ending this post so abruptly is because my work is calling - And yes, my work is to add a drop in the ocean of technology.. :D