It's a VERY important meeting where you require the full attention of all participants. You notice one person fidgeting in his seat. You look carefully and it's someone with a BlackBerry, probably answering e-mail or Internet surfing. I am sure everyone has some story that would fall within the three scenarios above. With the advent of cellphones and PDAs, people's manners for the new millennium have certainly changed.
People seem to be more focused on the gadgets than on respecting others.
This is the era of instant access and instant gratification. It's a ME type era. Well, as someone who was raised to know better, I don't know how we tolerate this type of rudeness. I believe its time for a change. But if two people take out their Pilots and are beaming information to each other at a dinner, that's more acceptable to me because it's social.