Walking!?!? Who does that any more?!

Is it just me or does anyone else find this slightly concerning: 

True Story...

A large group of teenagers take the train into the city with me this morning. Their matching bright green t-shirts tell me they are on a school field trip. Forty-five minutes after we take off, the conductor announces we are at our final destination.  Everyone loads off the train and heads towards the only entrance they allow you to use that dumps you into various parts of Union Station. We walk about twenty-five feet away from the front of the train. At this time the boy beside me is confronted by the same flight of stairs as everyone else that lead you up and out. At this very moment he blurts out, in complete confusion and utter disgust, “You mean we have to walk?”  

HUH? I heard another mumble something inaudible, in what seemed like agreement, when the implication hit me like someone slammed a door in my face.  

This young man was average build. He wasn't overweight. He wasn't very skinny. He showed no any signs of a broken foot, no crutches, no brace on either of his legs. He was walking beside me for at least a minute before we made it to the stairs. This young man who showed no obvious signs he should need assistance walking up a flight of stairs. 

My mind was flooded with questions. Didn't you walk to the bathroom this morning to get ready for the day? Didn’t you walk to the kitchen to eat breakfast? Didn’t you walk to the car/bus to get to the school? Walk to the train station platform? Walk up or down three stairs to your seat? Didn't you just walk up or down those same three steps to get off the train? Now you are upset and surprised that you have to“walk” up a flight of stairs? 

I was absolutely blown away!!!   "How else did you plan to get where you are going today?"

It's scary. Are our children really that reliant on technology that they can’t even tackle a flight of stairs by themselves?   I see the world turning into the Pixar's movie, "Wall-E" where people no longer walk, but move around in floating chairs, plugged-into the internet every waking moment.

I want to believe this is just kids being kids. Some would say they are going through a phase ~ Oh, they will grow out of it. I hope this is true. I really do. But it is hard to be so optimistic about our kids health and future when the amount of kids you see playing outside is drastically dwindling. They are too busy inside, sitting down watching TV or playing video games or sitting in front a computer chatting away on some social media site. They hardly ever go outside to play and just be children enjoying a nice day. And those that are outside seem too busy texting or playing on their phone to get any real exercise out of what they are doing. I hope it changes for the best!

The funny thing was, all he had to do was turn his head to the left. The escalator was less than 2 feet away.