Do people seem a little off lately? Do you feel a little off? Here’s why, I think. Being always on.

Smart phones and MP3 players have filled what Pink Floyd called the “empty spaces where we used to talk.”

Surely, we connect and nurture relationships through talking. And we resolve personal issues and make decisions through self-talk.

But plugging your ears with sound buds stops you hearing yourself think and thus prevents you connecting with yourself. George Carlin understood this on a deep level, as he explained: “The reason I talk to myself is that I’m the only one whose answers I accept.”

Clearly, Clint Eastwood did not understand this. He once sang “I talk to the trees, but they don’t listen to me.” Sorry, Mr. Eastwood, it matters not that they listen. It matters that you listen. To yourself.

That’s how you make your day.

Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.