“Admin” is on the road. Untethered from much of the digital world and its devices. It’s a relief.

Ubiquitous  city iPods, Blackberrys, cell phones and the people completely absorbed with them means that they (we) are not truly in the here and now, not entirely part of the social contract. Web marketers say that the “fractioning” of culture has to be embraced. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.

But there is something essential that we relinquish at our own peril — our ability to be acute observers of people (including ourselves) and social phenomena. Mark Twain comes to mind.

Watch the mom or dad pushing their kid in the stroller with one hand, cellphone in the other.  Ah, the precious memories of being outdoors together with your child as he or she grew up…

Stand in a crowd waiting for a bus, train or subway and listen to the conflicting strains of sounds from various iPoders surrounding you. There’s nothing like having to listen to that tinny sonic stew, those remnants of other people’s musical taste.

Take me to the river. It makes so much more sense.