Thoughts on Social Interaction in the Digital Age

Almost immediately after I sat down at the bar at the Hollywood Diner for lunch today, the elderly woman next to me struck up a conversation. She told me she was in Manhattan from her home in Jersey visiting her brother. We made small talk for a few minutes, noted the weather (naturally), and then the conversation turned to politics. She told me her thoughts on the 2008 presidential candidates, among other things, and so on and so on.

The topics of our conversation is not what interested me though. As we talked I considered a long-time observation of mine that elderly people tend to be more apt to conversation with strangers than their younger counterparts. And I am no better than my peers: once she initiated conversation with me I gave her my full attention, but if she had not spoken first we would have sat the entire duration of our meals in silence.

My question is, what is the primary reason why elderly people are more inclined towards casual conversation with strangers than younger folks?

As individuals age do they become more sociable or is it a generational thing? Has the woman I chatted with today always been so conversational? If so, then perhaps the change is a generational one-- as my generation ages, we may not necessarily become more sociable and a critical element of societal interaction may become largely lost.

Perhaps this generational shift also has something to do with changes in the very ways people interact with each other now? Email and AIM and MySpace and Facebook and World of Warcraft and blogs and Wikipedia and forums and message boards-- all these are avenues for 'social' interaction and the sharing of information, ideas, and even emotions. But, as we become ever more immersed in such things do we begin to lose our desire or even our ability to interact politely and pleasantly with complete strangers?