it's just an adult's way of legitimizing texting

So I was out with my dad tonight and he has a Blackberry. He got more texts than I did! I used to think people were pretty high-powered if they had a Blackberry because it's always been aimed at business people, but come on, at the end of the day, you're still texting people just like your 19-year-old son does 600 times a day. It was pretty surreal sitting there eating dinner with my dad merrily tapping away like a teenager.

I'll admit though, he WAS texting his boss back and forth, but MAN, times have changed. Remember when you called someone or had your secretary do it during business hours? Those time-wasters are long gone, now that texting is here to save the day! Sure, it may have taken longer to text back and forth than just pick up the phone, but in between texts, my dad and I had a conversation, whereas in the old days, he would have had to excuse himself to take the call.

I guess this again brings up the broader point of whether being more "connected" actually disconnects you from the people you're with. While my dad didn't have to leave the room to communicate with his boss, he WAS unavailable for about 30 seconds every 5 minutes to reply, even though he was sitting across from me. I guess it just depends on what the texts are. My dad's were with his boss, so maybe that makes it better? Do you think he should have excused himself, even though he was just texting? I think this will bear further scrutiny when today's teenagers enter the workforce.