So even when their use is proscribed, the rules are flagrantly broken. Elsewhere the protocols tend to be unclear, especially if the phone is kept on silent: professionals at meetings scan their text messages under the table; teenagers scrutinise them at every conceivable moment. It is fine to stop a conversation in mid-sentence to take a call, or so many people seem to think.
There is no doubt that new information and communication technology is a mixed blessing. Recent research suggests that those fully wired up can now squeeze 31 hours of activities into a single day. Other research is pointing to a rather less dramatic impact of technology, concluding more that it reinforces rather than replaces traditional patterns of social relationships.
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