To my mind, it very much depends on the circumstance.
Sitting there amongst friends and incessantly texting and tweeting and etc.? Uncool. Responding to an important message? Maybe okay, if you're not ignoring your dinner partner to do it. Tweeting a bon mot from your dinner partner? If it's okay with them, then do it.
I guess to me the issue is how you are engaging with (or disengaging from) the people you are at table with.
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As long as I get to read at the table…
It ticks me off when you are with a larger group of people for something like a bday or anni dinner and people take phone calls or text at the table. Seriously??? You can't take an hour or two to talk to someone about what you are doing next Friday or what you are doing now? Seriously? I have actually yelled at ppl for that before.
Phone calls are even more obnoxious because of the sound intrusion (and the sense that you should be quiet, 'cause, y'know, Joe-Bob's on the phone).
I would say, it's sort of like someone at the table shifting chairs and starting to talk intently to another person at the table, leaving the rest of the group out of the discussion. There are times (and ways of getting social consent) when that's okay, but on the face of it it's kind of a rude move.
I have no family or friends who would do that to me whilst dining out…or at my table. A phone call, perhaps, if there was a chance it was important. Otherwise? Nope. If someone did, I would probably get up, pay for whatever portion was mine, and say, “I’m so sorry to have taken you away from your busy schedule. Please do let me know when you have a bit more time for food and conversation.”
BTW, I used to take a grandchild to Friday’s for lunch on a pretty regular basis. It was a very special treat if I agreed to sit where there was a tv at the booth because, “Grandchild? What do we do when we dine out together?” His answer, eventually with a smile, “We converse.”
I yell at DH all the time for it. And his sister. They are notorious for texting during anything. I ask them if the rest of us are so boring why are they even there? :=P