You've heard it before … that incessant clicking in the middle of the new hit box-office release. The beeping of buttons as you try to carry on a conversation. The snap of a cell phone as the person you are talking to mumbles an apology about the text they just have to answer – the one that's so important it can't wait. Texting in the middle of conversations, movies, or any other event where it is otherwise inappropriate to talk is as rude as answering the phone.

Texting has always seemed unnecessary to me, and has successfully interrupted many a movie and halted conversations in their tracks. I am not against texting as an alternative form of communication, but the constant beeping and clicking of buttons during events and conversations is irksome, irritating, and just plain rude! No one can claim to have manners when, as they talk, they are also staring at a tiny screen and typing a note to their “bff, Jill.”

Supporters say that texting is useful in situations where calling is not permitted; it is less obtrusive and more easily ignored than a phone call, perhaps even more polite. However, while texting does not involve speaking out loud, it is still an interruption and therefore still can be considered just as rude.

Why can't people ever wait to answer a text? Unlike a phone call, a text will sit patiently in the inbox until answered. The text will not go anywhere unless the phone spontaneously combusts. So why is it that most people – adults and teens alike – find it necessary to immediately respond to a text at any time of the day or night, no matter what is going on around them?

Maybe I am old-fashioned. Perhaps I haven't caught up with the times. Maybe I was raised differently, or maybe I am just plain weird. Whatever the case, I consider texting in the middle of a conversation, a movie, or a lecture ridiculous and unnecessary.