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MIDDLETOWN — "Reach out and touch someone," the old telephone commercials used to sing.

Now, some people are concerned that with each technological advance, there may be plenty of reaching out, but not enough real touching.

The latest Pixar film "WALL-E" depicts a future world in which humans are so beholden to technology that they live in hover chairs, staring at a screen all day. They're so engrossed in the screen, they're startled when they actually touch.

A recent "Fox Trot" comic strip showed two teenage girls who were text messaging each other — even though they were sitting side by side.

"We can text faster than we can talk ... we can have a 30-minute conversation in only 20 minutes," one girl says in the comic strip.

Regardless, some people believe that technology can be a benefit as long as more than one live body is present. A number of teens got together at the Middletown Public Library last month, not to read books, but to try their hand at Nintendo Wii.

"It gives them something to talk about. It's like early networking skills," said Laura Pernic, a children's librarian. "If you spend the whole day on MySpace or Facebook, you're not really interacting."

Brendan Allen Jr., of Middletown, said video games do kids a lot of good.

"You get better at eye-hand coordination and everything," said Allen, who attended the session at the library.

Allen said when kids play games such as Tetris, a puzzle style game, "It doesn't seem like much, but you learn to fit things together."

Nick Hapner, who just graduated from Middletown High School, said technology can be good or bad depending on a person's life situation.

"If you've got friends to talk to, I suggest you do that," said Hapner, who pulled a cell phone from his pocket while being interviewed. "If not, (the Internet) gives you something to do, and you can share points of view."

William Brinkman, a professor in the computer science department at Miami University, said one of the difficulties of dealing with technology is that people become overly fascinated with anything new.

"With every new technology that comes out, you have early adopters who love it for itself, and you end up having the chance of focusing too much on technology," he said.

Another problem tends to be that technology develops so quickly that it changes before we get accustomed to it, said Brinkman.

"We come up with new ways to communicate, and then people start using them, and it takes a while for an etiquette to grow," he said.

An example of this is instant messaging online. Some people get so used to it, they try to carry on five conversations at once, with none of them really going anywhere, said the professor.

Still another problem crops up when youth use technology that parents don't understand. Brinkman has a friend who tries to monitor what kids watch on TV, yet seemed to have no problem with each child having a computer in their bedrooms.

"Parents are starting to get left behind. We need a more concerted effort to keep abreast of what children know," Brinkman said.

Still, not every kid out there is glued to a screen. Cameron Everage, of Middletown suggested, "You set boundaries. Instead of playing (video games ) for three hours straight, go out and play catch for an hour," he said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com

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