"laptop" news and stories

With entertaining and often addictive websites, such as YouTube, it has become common to find computers at the dinner table. It seems that over the past few years, dinners with friends have involved gathering around and looking at videos online. The computer is clearly changing social dynamics around the dinner table. A few weekends ago, while eating at a friend's house, my friend commented that she would not mind if she never saw a computer at the dinner table again. I wondered: is it poor etiquette to bring a laptop to dinner?

Is there something inherently wrong about a group of friends using a laptop as a means of socializing during dinner? To me, it seems like the problem would start once the socializing ceased to exist. Two people eating dinner and doing work on two separate laptops is obviously antisocial. Sending text messages and emails on a cellphone prevents us from enjoying the moment. And, enjoying a YouTube video with friends is not much different than watching television instead of conversing about the day.

Does a laptop, like television, function as a source of distraction? Does it disconnect us from each other and prohibit us from taking pleasure in our food and natural environment?

Have laptops infiltrated your social life at the dinner table? If so, do you think it's a bad thing?

As I've been taking my laptop to coffee shops with ever-greater frequency, I've entirely given up the "will you watch my stuff?" routine when I use the restroom. I don't have the latest and greatest PC, and I operate in the world with the theory that, if I'm gentle and trust people, I will receive the same treatment, back.

With the proliferation of free wifi in coffee shops and the diuretic nature of caffeine, it stands to reason that this dilemma is more and more of a concern every day. As I see it you have three options: either you (a) pack up your equipment and bring it to the restroom with you; (b) ask someone (a friendly stranger) to watch your things; or (c) trust and pee fast.

So far, I've never been burned with my trusting routine, and I've done it in coffee shops from New York to Portland... and all over Portland. It helps that I'm a regular customer, of course, but being a newbie never stops me. Do you trust your fellow coffee shop patron?