Personally, it really doesn't bother me if friends text on their phones while at the table. So long as they are somewhat discrete (ie, not having a loud conversation on their phones), I don't see what the big deal is? If there is something more interesting going on on their phones than having a conversation with their friends at the table then so be it. If they don't want to listen to what people at the table have to say and are fine with missing out on a joke or important information from a friend then that's their prerogative. Some friends are really good at multitasking and some friends just simply don't care what I'm saying at that point in time. Even if they didn't have their phone they probably still wouldn't care what I was saying but would be forced to pretend to care
Whatever :-) Don't see why we need to treat them like children by forcing them to hand over their electronics
