Guys, thank you for your comments. I appreciate your understanding. Please note, however, that there is some irony in the piece, aside from the seriousness rightly accorded to the incident of the inattentive mother.

Your post will definitely get a lot of attention. I'm sure you know that. It's a good discussion we need to have. However, I think you could have used a little less irony and a lot more balance if you really wanted to get something across besides a rant.

Ultimately, one person's "triviality" is another's passion. The problem with social networking isn't it's triviality. It's that to consume what's important to us, we have to find it through all the "noise"--whatever that may mean to each individual. It used to be that we didn't have this problem because when two people meet, or a group for that matter, they immediately find a middle ground and talk about what's important to all. Such context breaks down when we broadcast information online.

This problem I feel will be solved in the years to come. Disclaimer: I'm working on it.