America needs to face some basic truths

The problem is, these are words and words don't seem to affect most people any more. We expect swift sound bites which we hear, and then lose with the next sound bite.
We scramble around with our jobs, our kids, the television blaring in the background. There are no more neighbors visiting neighbors, or a lunch with our work colleagues where we can discuss the direction we hope to take with the company and with our individual jobs.
We don't sit down to dinner with our family with no background noise except the sound of our voices as we decode our day.
We don't listen, we don't discuss, we don't hear each other.
How can we fix that?
At the root of our woes is simple human connection. If we would slow down, respectfully listen and courteously reply, maybe a new era of interaction would blossom. Perhaps we would get to know each other as people and not as groups that we label and toss aside.