I was on board with this at first but you pretty much gave up the high ground with “mind your own fucking business”.
“Look lady, we were talking about you and didn’t want you to hear.”
Doesn’t sound much like it. It’s sad that people don’t have the ability to actually talk to each other or acknowledge the physical presence of other human beings. The cell phone thing is an addiction. We’re all going to end up like those people in Wall-E, riding around in those rigs locked in on computer monitors all the time, getting fatter and losing all ability to function socially. And t’s the children who are really going to suffer. That’s the saddest part. 
Being with your long-term partner in a restaurant and texting for a few minutes = not rude, if your partner doesn’t think it so.
Thinking that is a boring way to spend an evening = not rude.
Saying something about it in a sanctimonious tone = rude.
Responding with an angry comment and obscenity = rude and stupid. Do you think she even heard you, or cared? You should have just laughed it off. She doesn’t know the particulars of your relationship or how happy you are (or aren’t), and you’ve let her get to you. She’s still taking up space in your head, and she’s long since forgotten you. And might not have even heard your comment or realized it was directed to her.
I wouldn’t say anything about it in that situation, but I would quietly think it was sad.
I think there’s a real generational divide over this. It seems to me that folks from the pre-mobile era think that texting/talking/whatever on a phone while at a table with other people is incredibly rude, but people under 30 think it’s no big deal at all. A complete non-issue.
It really isn’t a big deal. A person can text and still be “there,” less so while on the phone.
Mind your own fucking business is a perfectly acceptable response to those that are not.
Oh, fer cryin’ out loud, Dio. Old-timers in previous generations said the same thing about cars, and they probably said the same thing about the wheel a few generations before that.
On the other hand, “folks from the pre-mobile era” can agree with “people under 30” that walking over to a complete stranger and making a rude comment about something innocuous is, in itself, rude.
Eh, she made a comment to her husband, not directly to the OP. If it was rude, it was pretty mild.
See, here’s the thing. For the two of us, sometimes going out is like a date, and sometimes it’s just that we’re tired and don’t want to make dinner at home, or we can’t think of what to make, or we haven’t been grocery shopping in a while, so we just want to grab a quick bite at a casual restaurant. You can’t tell what the situation is just by looking at us.
I don’t text, and my cell phone is emergency use only. Nothing annoys me more than being with someone who is constantly checking their device.
If you saw a couple both reading the paper at a table, occasionally looking up at each other, saying something, and smiling, would you think it looked sad?
My husband isn’t a phone guy, so you won’t see us both on the phone, but we LOVE to hit the used bookstore together, go out for lunch, and both look through our purchases, swapping little things we discover. Then, typically, when the food comes we put the books aside and eat and talk. What on earth is sad about that?
Not gossiping about others is the most polite thing to do, but if one just can’t help it - not doing it in earshot of the gossiped-about is the least rude. Making a comment such that it can be heard either means that one of the gossipers needs a hearing aid, or they’re being passive-aggressive and rude. Yes, it’s less rude than getting in someone’s face about it, but only in the sense that flicking a bit of water at someone from afar is less rude than splashing it in someone’s face.
My husband and I were each tapping on our iPhones when waiting for our lunch orders to arrive on Sunday. It wasn’t a date, just lunch, and at a casual bar and grill. Someone who saw us peering at the phones might think we were being rude to each other. Instead, we had just been talking about New Year’s plans and were both looking up events and hotel room availability. Watching us the entire meal would show we weren’t entirely wrapped up in the phones (not that it’s anyone’s business) at all.
I agree, some people are jerks who text to others while out with people, and alienate their friends and family who are there in person. But if you’re not bothering anyone that you’re with, and aren’t doing anything like ignoring waitstaff/hogging a table after the meal/texting while walking and creating a problem with your inattention/whatever, then complete strangers should STFU or at least learn to be subtle, rather than pulling a “LOL, check out the impolite jerk” comment that everyone can hear.
Actually, my coworkers are pretty bawdy. I still blush from the things they say sometimes. 
Tell me about it. Though I am not thinking what you are thinking I think.
The OP sounded quite able to acknowledge that woman’s presence. :p:cool:
Exactly.
You have to explain why you think that would be sad, because I’m not seeing it. And what the fuck does it even mean to acknowledge physical presence? Is it something like, “Dio, I acknowledge that you are a corporeal being, existing as matter in some physical space”. I can do that online.
Or, do you mean I’ll get so good at cybersex that I’ll forget how to have primitive sex? Well, I obviously enjoy cybersex more, or else I wouldn’t engage in it compulsive. You should be happy that I’m doing things that enrich my life, not put me down for it.
Typically, comments made in the faction described by the OP are intended as passive-aggressive digs. She meant to communicate not to her husband, but to the target of her ire. She lacked the capacity to do it directly, and the tact to not do it at all.
As for your sadness over kids these days, I’m surprised that your live and let live mentality is impaired by some Rockwellian idealism about what people are supposed to do in order to enjoy each other’s company. Sheesh, at a dinner with my wife, my attention might wander from time to time. Sue me for not gazing into her eyes all night long.
And if the Steelers were playing, well, I’d likely check the score from time to time. Of course, my wife would be just as curious to get the updates too. Not that we’d do something like go out to eat during a Steelers game.