1Every generation quietly rewrites its unwritten rules of politeness, and ours is certainly no exception.
2Within little more than a single decade, the smartphone has quietly overturned centuries of established social convention.
3Answering a personal message within a few minutes is now widely seen as basic courtesy.
4Leaving a friend on read for days, however, can feel like a cold and deliberate insult.
5Restaurants once asked guests to remove their hats; now they beg them to pocket their phones.
6A dinner companion who constantly checks the screen sends a clear and deeply unspoken message.
7We are only half present at the meal, and everyone sitting at the table knows it.
8Entirely new phrases have emerged to soften the small acts of rudeness we all commit.
9We apologise for replying late, although nobody has ever agreed on what late actually means.
10Some friends now schedule phone-free evenings together as if they were booking a rare holiday.
11Perhaps true courtesy in our time is simply the act of giving someone your undivided attention.
12In a world carefully engineered for constant distraction, full attention has become the rarest gift of all.