Table text: Diners can’t do without their smartphones, so restaurants are (mostly) tapping into the spirit

DING. Bzzzt. Bap. Beep. That’s the sound of conversation in restaurants these days. Where cell phones once posed a nuisance as people chatted loudly into them during meals, smartphones now present a whole new set of etiquette issues as entire tables disappear into the Internet via small glowing screens. Like an analog world-munching Pac-Man, the modern smartphone has morphed into instant ...

E-mail gaffes and cellphone faux pas

Take calls while socializing? E-mail bad news? Maybe you should brush up on your Netiquette

Smartphones present etiquette issues that call for a digital-era Emily Post

Smartphones may be part of the fabric of our lives but should they be part of the table setting in restaurants?

Three new books on modern manners

It’s upon us: Jaundiced January, when hopeful grandmas race to their mailboxes — at first eagerly, then with the growing droopiness of a post-Christmas poinsettia — to check for thank-you cards that never come. “Did they not like the socks?” they wonder. “Maybe they never arrived.” A new roundup of books on manners exhorts us to put pen to paper (or at least fire off a text message). Read full ...

When diners' eyes feast on their cellphones

Some restaurants try to accommodate smartphone addicts and even join in. Others try to discourage the diner distraction. Ding. Bzzzt. Bap. Beep. That's the sound of conversation in restaurants these days. Where cellphones once posed a nuisance as people chatted loudly into them during meals, they now present a whole new set of etiquette issues as entire tables disappear into the Internet via ...