One thing us seniors get accused of is not being able to understand or communicate well with the younger generation.Yes I’m referring to ‘the generation gap’ as it’s been called for years. Well, as far as I’m concerned, it’s not our fault — it’s the half-witted teenagers that seem to be the problem.There I was, standing in line at my favourite coffee house waiting to put in my order when in walks this kid that I know; well, let’s say I know his parents who are weird but nice people all the same — but I have meet their kid a few times.So anyway, he walks in wearing shades, earphones that are connected to his iPod, and looking at his iPhone as he’s texting. I, being brought up to say good morning to at least people I know, said: ”Hey bie, what’s happening?”I get in return a sort of nod of the head and a push forward of the chin.“What de hell was that?!”Now, the only other communication he had was with the person behind the counter, and those words were “coffee, milk only“ and he did this without putting down his cell phone or taking off his glasses or headphones. As soon as he put in his order, his head went back down again to his cell phone. He had completely shut off the outside world. The misfit had no idea what was going on around him. It was like he was in his own little bubble.I mentioned this to a co -worker and how I felt about it. I personally feel it is the height of rudeness when someone walks into an establishment, sees someone they know and the best they can muster up to acknowledge a person is a feeble nod.My co-worker said: “Well, maybe he’s just shy?”That got me thinking. Was our ‘bubble boy’ shy, or just plain rude? I must admit, it could come down to shyness.Why do I think this? Let me educate you on this new theory I have.We have all heard of feral chickens and feral cats especially in the last couple of weeks — the press have gone crazy over the stories. Well, have you ever heard of ‘feral child’? Now hold on, stop the name calling and sit back down! How are you supposed to learn anything if you don’t listen?A feral or wild child is a human child who has lived in isolation from human contact from a very young age. Okay, see where I’m going with this? Now there have been documented cases from as far back as the 14th century over 100 cases where feral children have been have been found living in the wild and most of the times unable to adapt to our modern environment because they have the inability to communicate with others. They have been living in their own ‘bubble’ world.We should expect to see more if we continue to allow our children to walk around with iPods always attached to their ears, with their heads permanently locked down while texting and completely cut off from the rest of society. They’ll lose the art of communication and ability to interact with other human beings in which case feral chickens and cats are going to be the least of our problems.