Waiting room

I stopped into a  walk-in clinic (shudder) earlier this week. I am very fortunate to have personal physician; a thoughtful, thorough and kind man but my problem was not one he was equipt to tackle and so he referred me to the facility that shares a waiting room with the walk-in clinic. Health care isn't what this post is about. This post is about change.

As I signed in for my scheduled appointment I noticed there were fourteen people in the room. Of those fourteen  people seven were connected to or interacting with smart phones of various types. I assume listening to music, surfing the net, playing games or texting. One person had a tablet, one a mini laptop, another an e-reader, and one a book. An LCD monitor high on the wall displayed a loop of advertising disguised as information.

Just one  tired looking, yellowed paperback  book read by a young woman sitting feet up, wedged sideways in the scruffy chair. Not a single magazine.