Hey, I don’t have that much as it is and you interrupt me when I’m on top of my game? C’mon.

By David Mantey, Editor, PD&D

"While my situation was a bit more of a blind-date, Match.com horror story, gadgets are splicing intimate moments in all relationships."

I will never fit into the stereotype of the collar-popping ladies’ man with an arsenal of one-liners, a boat on the Great Lakes and a car that has doors that open vertically. It’s just not my speed. Dating is hard enough without purposely over-starching your collar and making fake business cards that say I’m a Junior VP.

A recent article on TXTing while on dates has shed a little more light on technological gaffes while sitting down for an uncomfortable meal while you wonder who will pick up the tab and determine if the date is destined to end in the parking lot.

While every new technology is making life better for Crackberry addicts around the nation, it’s severing shared moments and splicing them into nanosecond-long bursts of thought.

“What were you thinking of ordering?” I pause for thirty seconds and wait during the frantic typing mixed with Phil Collins singing “True Colors” in the background. She gave me the head nod though, so I know an answer is coming. Here it is …

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Sure, she’s adorable, but I throw on the desperate eyes and look for my waitress who will know to bring me another drink. I see her, she sees me, I give her a frown and she now knows to make it a double.

I look back at the table attempting to jumpstart another night in single life infamy and ask, “So what do you do—” I’m cut off with an index finger and a sigh as she begins to respond to the text message she received while I looked to self-medicate through the night.

It didn’t work out. Actually, the more I think about it, I’m not sure that I even stayed for the rest of the date. I spent some time at the bar, and when she asked if I wanted her number, I texted my answer “No Thnx.”

I’m not even sure if the message went through. I have yet to perfect the art of language-butchering texting. Right now, schools in Australia are considering adding texting to the language arts curriculum – if this dares to enter my school district, I’ll … well, I’ll probably just write another column on it.

While my situation was a bit more of a blind-date, Match.com horror story, gadgets are splicing intimate moments in all relationships. (I was going go with a list here, but it was getting long and I’m not sure that it was very PC.)

Cell phones go off during dinner, conversations and heated debates – the only successful way that I have seen a heated debate on abortion end was when Justin Timberlake suddenly started yelling “Hoo!” followed by a quick, “Sorry, I’ve got to take this.”

Blackberries chirp during classes and meetings. Beepers do nothing, because they’re irrelevant and nobody carries them anymore. The new American dinnertime consists of two to five warm bodies in a room watching two to five different screens.

I went over to a family members house for dinner last week (because I wanted to catch-up and her cheesy potatoes are worth taking a bullet). I sat down on the couch in silence watching The Office and 30 Rock while my two cousins were glued to their PSPs and the other was watching the Jonas Brothers on a portable DVD player. We did, however, have five minutes to talk as they thanked me for doing the dishes. I’m happy we were able to share such an intimate moment.

As our lives are shaved into thinner slices of time, we have to remember to pay attention to those who are important to us. Think about turning off the phone for a few hours or pulling the electronic plug on your kids.

Now, I know this is going out two days after Valentine’s Day, so I apologize for the delayed heads up. Let’s just hope you weren’t trying to read your screen by candlelight or having to pluck rose petals from your keys.  

What's your take? Send comments to david.mantey@advantagemedia.com.