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Months ago, the hubby and I made a pact that when we returned to the States and got smart phones, we would not use them while eating. We’d seen couples, and even entire families, sitting around the table in a pub, fish and chips growing cold and soggy on their plates, completely ignoring each other as they scanned sports scores, checked emails, and texted friends. We vowed that as a couple, we would not let technology undermine common mealtime etiquette or rob us of civilized dinner conversation.

As discouraged as we are at the way smart phones seem to be encapsulating individuals in their own private bubbles, tonight we were privy to a most annoying alternative.

The couple seated behind us in Applebee’s placed their order, then whipped out a single iPhone, on which they proceeded to watch a movie. Seated on opposite sides of the table. At full volume. Competing with the restaurant’s satellite music channel, the bartender using her decidedly non-inside voice to explain the computerized ordering system to a trainee, and the screaming toddler banging her mother’s cutlery on the table all the way across the restaurant.

I’m sorry. If you want to watch a movie while you eat, call ahead for Carside-To-Go and enjoy your meal in front of your big screen AT HOME. Because I did not come here to listen to your movie.

I wanted a relaxing dinner. I wanted to spend some quality time with the hubby. I wanted to talk to him. And hear his responses.

We couldn’t have held a conversation if we’d tried. Maybe we should have used the time to check our email.