You may doubt it, ElleBlue, but the LW specifically says the person spends "a half-hour" texting. They also say the person is "attached" to their cell phone. And if it were only 5 minutes, it's unlikely the texter would have seen a need to alter their behavior, yet the LW says things got better for a short time the last time she brought it up.

But even if it is only 5 minutes, if you're trying to converse with the person during that time, it's pretty damn annoying. Would you find it to be okay if you called a friend up and they proceeded to put you on hold for 5 minutes? Or tried to talk to you while simultaneously helping their kid with homework and telling their spouse how their day had went?

Multi-tasking is not always a positive. Frequently it results in us doing a half-ass job at multiple things. In one of the examples somebody gives above, the boyfriend has to occasionally take work calls. So, he has to suspend his personal conversation to give undivided attention to the business call. Shouldn't the friends we are out with get equal respect? If the texter want to hang out with the absent person that bad, stay in and let the rest of the group go out and have fun. But don't get stuck in this no-man's land where you're not really giving either party the time they deserve.