I would venture that more has been written about the electronic age and how technology is changing our lives than any other topic in the past 25 years. And billions of dollars are spent annually trying to understand the behaviors of the highly-coveted younger generation. But sometimes it takes a really simple experience to realize how the world has truly changed.

I coach my daughter’s basketball team. We are not good. This was especially apparent in our most recent game, when we brought down the house by ringing up 3 total points. Yes, you read that correctly.

Which takes us to last night’s practice. The coaching staff (me) determined that the correction to our inability to hit the broad side of a barn with a basketball was to run – a lot. After over an hour of intense workout, which drove a number of girls to near tears and/or near nausea, we took a water break. As the girls sat down on the bleachers, I prepared to deliver a fire and brimstone speech that I am sure would have inspired the girls to score at least 5 points in our next contest.

As I looked up, I was floored to witness four of the ten girls on the team reach into their gym bags, pull out their cell phones and check their text messages (or perhaps text the authorities to come and save them from this horrible coach). The four ultimately engaged the entire team, discussing an exchange that one of the girls was having with a boy from their class.

After pondering that my back-side would still be hurting if my middle school basketball coach had witnessed this scene (let’s just pretend that there were cell phones that long ago), I realized that this was the first time that it really hit me how pervasive digital communication is to Tweeners.

I inquired to my daughter (who was one of the original four culprits) why in a state of near exhaustion, dripping with sweat and with only ½ hour to go in practice had she reached for her cell phone, especially in the face of the lunatic coach? Habit … insecurity … the expectation of a life-or-death message? Her reply: “I needed to know what was going on.”  Duh.