on texting ettiquette

With any new social phenomena, we adjust and rules and manners evolve. Texting in inappropriate situations is a contentious issue for people of just about all ages. Texting's turned out to be more dangerous when driving that drinking, and spring this year has brought with it a recent rash of texting in my classes.

Slate Magazine just surveyed it's readers and came up with a short, simple rule for determining ettiquette.

a concise, easy-to-remember rule that we could all consult when deciding whether to reach for our phones. More than 300 thoughtful comments poured in, the overwhelming majority from people who believed that there's too much texting in public. I expected to find a clear generational divide, with younger readers expressing less angst about looking at their phones. Surprisingly, though, young people had some of the strongest feelings about texting—they were annoyed at their phone-obsessed friends (Jump to source)

It interests me that they use a scatological analogy; I've said before that scatological analogies work really well for the interwebs (It may be one of my funniest posts ). I don't like their solution because I don't see how it can help for my classes, but the goal works in most situations:

NOTE: for the record - my syllabi clearly details an etiquette that if violated after one warning - results in a record of non-engagement which counts toward your grade as would an absence.