Conversational Skills

My wife and I went out to a pub for dinner on Friday night. It was nice to just sit and catch up with each other after a busy week--one of the nice things about the kids getting older is we have more of those "just us" times. After more than two decades of marriage, it's nice that we still enjoy just talking for hours. I wasn't thinking about that particularly, until I noticed that at two different tables nearby were young couples, who were just sitting there. It may have been they were tired, or one was an awkward first date, but it just seemed like they were bored. One girl sat there, silent, as her companion spent most of his time texting. Have texting and social media begun to damage conversational skills? Did they need more alcohol to relax enough to talk to one another? (The service was pretty slow.) On a slightly different note (and making me look like a burgeoning alcoholic), earlier my son and I had walked over to a neighborhood pub and shared a jug and some appies and just enjoyed father-son time at a redneck drinking establishment. (I'd also note that my wife did all the driving that evening when we went out--she doesn't drink.) Now of course I have to run more to work this all off.