Technology at the table...have we forgotten how to socialize?

To piggy back on the lazy parenting topic from yesterday, I'd like to bring up another thought, if you don't mind.  Technology at the table, is it really necessary?  Have our kids gotten so socially stunted that basic rules of engagement no longer apply?  Everywhere I go, I see kids of all ages glued to some sort of technology.  In the car, children play on iPads; riding in shopping carts while playing some hand-held video game; at a restaurant table, they are fixated on a screen, watching a movie.  Seriously?!  Do people talk to their kids anymore?  Is it any wonder they have no clue how to speak to adults, ask questions in class, or have conversations with their friends that don't take place via text?  Are we raising social retards?  The answer is yes.  Yes, we are contributing to the emotional retardation of the next generation.  Boys text girls to ask them to a movie.  No longer do their little hearts beat wildly in their chests as they wait for a girl to pick up the phone.  No longer are we able to discern serious from sarcasm.  Feelings conveyed through emoticons take the place of a sincere, warm smile or hot, salty tears.
Sitting at a dinner table used to be a time for conversation, as well as eating.  This was the moment when people joined together to discuss the events of the day, thoughts, ideas, or share a laugh.  When I see kids sitting at a table, eyes cast downward, reading a screen, I die a little inside.  Children are little people, they deserve your attention.  Talk to them, for Christ's sake!!!  Is it so hard to talk to your own child that you'd prefer to bring a laptop with you to a restaurant so they can zone out to a movie while you engage in yet more adult conversation?  You've been at work all day, away from your little burden.  Can you give them 25 minutes of your uninterrupted attention, or is that too much to ask?  I suppose you'll tell me that it keeps them in their seats, prevents them from running amok. You wouldn't require such advanced technology had you just taught them how...how to sit still, how to carry on a conversation, how to be polite.  Yeah, it's work.  What did you think you were getting into when you had kids?  Was it status?  Was it something you thought you HAD to do?  Did you really think it would be easy?  Were you shocked at the amount of time and effort needed to raise a child?  Sorry to hear your child cramps your style. You made a choice.
Do you know what happens to these kids?  I'll tell you, since I saw the culmination of what being raised by technology does to someone.  One night, while at Tomi, a seafood/Asian buffet joint, I witnessed what I thought was the funniest yet saddest sight I had ever set eyes upon.  Two older teen/young twenty-somethings sitting at the table diagonally across from ours, laptop on the table between them, watching a movie, silently.  These two lovebirds hadn't spoken one word to each other the entire meal.   Is this the new dinner and a movie?!  Are you friggin kidding me right now???