Ms. Manners: Blogging from the Dinner Table

This weekend everyone's favorite style mavens at the New York Times weighed in on the propriety of smartphone interuptions during business meetings. As in "is it ok to check email on my iPhone during a potential pitch from a potential contractor?"

To which I say, "SERIOUSLY?!?!" I mean how is there any debate here. Of course it's rude. Of course it's inappropriate. If you're important enough, you can get away with it. But better hope you don't need to leave anybody with the impression you care about them, their work, their time, etc. 

The more interesting question to me, is the extent to which the same smartphone usage is acceptable in a social as opposed to a professional setting. If we go to brunch on Sunday are we all free to check crackberries mid-mimosa? Are the rules different if we're all lawyers?

So to readers out there: Do you have smartphone boundaries? Are they self-imposed or externally created?