Man versus Machine

(I really should have said "person vs machine" but it doesn't have quite the same resonance.) I was working alone  today - and at one point there was a mother and daughter in the store - just them and me. We had exchanged hellos and they'd looked around a bit - after maybe ten minutes they were both standing near the front desk,  working their cell phones.  To try to get attention back to the here and now, I said "like mother, like daughter!"  They did look up - and the daughter said to me, "I'm trying to find where the next place we're going is."  I asked the name of the place - thinking it was probably off in another town - and she said "Ward Map."  (which is two and a half blocks from us.)  And it just struck me how much things have changed - they didn't even think to ask me if I knew where it was. (of course I told them.) - but - I guess the new normal is - why talk to someone if you can consult your phone?  Of course maybe they were being considerate and thinking they wouldn't bother me but I don't really think so.  They were just more focused on those phones than they were on where they were and the person right in front of them - and, that makes me feel just a bit superfluous - and a little bit sad. I wasn't busy, and I was right in from to them. And,  I like to think I would be nicer to engage with than a cell phone.  Actually, I doubt it was any kind of a conscious choice on their part- and they were happy when I was able to tell them how close they were.  I feel like I did a good thing by getting them into a conversation.  But the implications are troubling to me.  I like talking to people, it's a big part of why I do what I do.  I don't want to be replaced by a phone!