I don't even own a phone

If any of my friends or family ever told me that I wasn't allowed to use my phone at the dinner table I would tell them to go **** themselves. Not because I was planning on starring at my phone all dinner but because I don't like to be talked to like I'm a 5 year old. If I want to answer a text message during dinner then I am going to. I realize it's rude to ignore the people you are eating with but there is no reason to become enraged at the sight of a phone. Without phones people could still spend all dinner watching TV or even just lost in their own thoughts. Phones don't make a person be rude, they just make it obvious when they are doing it.

Sitting on your phone during dinner is ******* rude.
It shows that you dont care about anything the people youre with are saying, a blatant disrespect for the people youre dining with.
Little ***** like you are why families cant connect anymore.
Its time you grew up and realize that telling you no phones at the dinner table isnt talking to you like a 5 year old, its making clear a common ******* respect thats expected in the company of others.

And I can't really comment on families not connecting because when I was growing up smart phone didn't exist yet. My family and I would usually eat dinner while watching TV. I'm not married and I don't have kids so I couldn't really give a **** if families have problems connecting or not now-a-days.

Except that I'm a grown ass man and if you have to explicitly state that you don't want people starring at their phones at the table you don't respect the people you are with enough for the rule to go unspoken. I never said that I sit on my phone all dinner. I will take my phone out, reply to a text message I just got, and then put my phone away. My friends all do this too and when one of us is texting a mutual friend we often talk about what the person is saying. If this is rude then I guess we are a bunch of rude assholes.

Well if you call spending 2 minutes of a 1.5 hour long dinner sending texts rude then I guess I am. Petulant I am not, since I said IF, meaning that I have never had to tell any of my friends or family to **** themselves because we don't feel the need to have to set up ground rules just to be able to talk to each other during dinner. Of course different rules apply between a date with someone you just met and friends who you have known half your life. If you think that you have to behave with your friends the same way you would on a first date then you probably don't have very many friends.