The subway is just a horizontal and larger version of the elevator, a place where people are trying very hard to not have to interact with those around them. The trip is short enough that you can't really talk, probably you see the same faces every day and you feel awkward. Situations like that give people a ton of reasons to look for an excuse, be it a book, a newspaper or their phone. They're also cranky, it's early morning before their first cup-of-favorite-beverage or late in the day when they simply want to get home from the office. It's a collectively murderous mood, not unlike what you'd get if you put all the people in a traffic jam into a single box.

Compare with trains and you see the opposite, people get to talk to each other, make friends.

Other than that I completely agree with you, technology will not by itself make your life more fulfilled or meaningful and quite possibly will make it less so.

The way this stuff is marketed is as though the mere ownership of gadget 'x' will make you more attractive/interesting/happy. And that's never the case.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill

and

http://www.listenmoneymatters.com/materialism-is-killing-you...