Communication breakdown

This weekend, I was at a wedding for a friend. The groom, my friend, had his father, who is a preacher, marry him and his new wife.

This friend is one of 4 kids, I have met his other two brothers and his sister and consider myself friends with them. All four of these kids are "good kids". None of them have had issues with the law, they are respectful, honest, ethical and all around of good heart and soul.
After the ceremony, I got a chance to talk to the dad and I told him what great kids he and his wife have raised and then, I asked him something he had been asked, I am sure, by other people before me...."How do you do it, what is your secret?"
His answer:
"Marry your best friend. When the kids are gone, you are going to need someone you can talk to."

How true. Communication is such an important thing. Communication is what keeps us connected to others, it is what keeps our souls alive and thriving.
In this day and age, when divorce is so prevelant and easy to achieve, I wonder what has truly changed from the days of our grandparents. What is so different, when it comes to the challenges of marriage, that is so hard to deal with?

I think the main thing is the way we communicate with each other. The internet has had such an impact on our lives. It is so easy to real time chat with people halfway accross the world and yet, we cannot seem to take the time to look at the person sitting next to us on the bus and just say "hello".
We, as a society, have lost that desire for human contact. It is so ingrained in us to distrust our next door neighbor that when we find someone who is reaching out to us, we flinch away in horror and disgust simply because we don't know how to take the hand that is extended.

The movie "Wall E" is a perfect example of the effects of lack of human contact. In the movie, People float around on chairs, talking to computer screens and not even seeing the people they are floating next to. It is only when one of them is disturbed by Wall E that they actually look around and see the people and the world that they have been missing.
Some would say that that movie is an extreme exaggeration of what we are becoming, but I wonder if it is actually more accurate than we wish to admit.

Imagine, for a moment, what sort of an impact you would have on someones day if you just turned to them as they sit next to you on the bus, smiled and said "Hi, how are you?"

And you actually meant it.