Technology Etiquette. . .

I was reading an article from Dave Ramsey about technology and it brought up an interesting fact.  Americans check their phones more than 150 times a day.  This reminded me of an observation I made while out to eat one evening with my family.   I looked around  and  more than half of the people sitting around us had their heads down tapping away on their phones.   This is where my etiquette issues come in to play.  I think it is rude to those you are eating with to have your head buried in your phone rather than being with those that are right in front of you.  I do not think these folks are being rude intentionally,  they just do not realize how it appears.   We are so tuned in to our devices that we do not even think, it is an automatic response to the sound of the ping or bubble.  I am guilty of it too, but I am trying to do better for my family's sake.   Sprat does not even carry his phone much anymore and of course Big T does not have one.  The hubbs and I are the ones in our house that need to tone down the tech time.  We never get on our phones at the table, unless of course I am trying to take a picture.  These days I have to snap them where I can and many times it is when they are pined in at a table while we are out to eat.  I know sometimes it is unavoidable, especially when you may have a loved one sick or trying to keep touch with a loved one out of town.   

I just wonder what Dear Abby or Mrs. Manners would say to the lack of face to face contact that we have today?  I saw a commercial the other day talking about "dead time" or "dead zone" meaning no cell phones or tablets during family/dinner time.  Do we really have to have that to remind us of what is important?  

Sometimes I wonder, has all of this technology really made our lives better or has it just made our work day longer?  I know my hubby does some of his paper work at home after work just to stay caught up.  He has a company laptop, ipad, and cell phone that makes his work "easier" and enables 

him to do much of his paper work long after the "work day" is over.  

"Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backward."  Aldous Huxley.  Here is another quote for today:  "Even the technology that promises to unite us, divides us.  Each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone." Dan Brown, Angels and Demons.