A reader writes:
I'm a perpetual text/tweeter in mid-conversation, and I believe it is absolutely appropriate manners. Customs change with the times and we live in 2011, a world where the line between meatworld interaction and online social networks is paper thin. This is a good thing!
How is the online life ranked below the in-person? The rudeness to me is an individual who thinks that just because I am standing next to them they may monopolize my time for hours on end. I am to be shared.
I know you're hostile towards Ray Kurtzweil's burgeoning Singularity cult, but that my behavior becomes more acceptable all the time (especially with the 35 and under crowd) indicates there's something to it. To tweet or text in the middle of social engagements is to observe the world on behalf of our social super-organism, uploading that sensory data into the shared brain. It is the very opposite of anti-social.
Another writes:
It's interesting that you're batting around the topic of compulsive use of gadgets at the expense of real-live social interactions. I've just started reading the book "iBrain", in which the authors describe how our use of these technologies is actually re-wiring the neural circuitry of our brains, especially for people who start when they're young. Here's a link to the Kindle version on Amazon (so you can read it while you're ignoring someone across the table at dinner ;)
The Dish 