This is what our lives have come to.

Free wireless Internet in the Amtrak station, although extremely convenient, has changed the way Philadelphians are interacting.

After taking a seat on the bench to wait for my train today, I whipped out my laptop with happy intentions of scoping my social network world and checking my e-mail.

Maybe it’s because I don’t have a smart phone that free WiFi in the train station makes me one chipper college student, but as I looked around, I noticed dozens of people with their iPads, iPods and laptops out, while talking on their iPhones! Virtually no one, at least in close proximity to me, were communicating with each other.

And now, it gets even more extreme, there is free WiFi on the train – not just in the train station. I used to get so much work done for my classes on the train being cut off from the Internet.

. . .

I by no means am saying I don’t appreciate Amtrak’s efforts to give us riders free internet, heck they charge us enough for each ride – we definitely deserve it!

But, it’s important to realize – if you haven’t already – the impact our obsession with electronic devices are having on our lives. Sometimes I just want to shut off my phone, deactivate my Facebook and Twitter and forget about my e-mail every once in a while so I can enjoy peaceful, uninterrupted time with friends and family – and maybe even make a new friend during a train ride.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I did that, and I bet 99 percent of you reading this can’t either.