By Roger Boughton

Guest column

Is anybody listening? I recently completed an unscientific poll asking various friends, coffee buddies and neighbors about a complaint I had over the holidays. Our family, as they do every year, came to our home the other night for an evening of gathering around the kitchen table for a delicious meal, games and conversation. We have done this for a number of years. However, it was not to be.

I discovered to my dismay that if you have any family members under the age of 25 to your home, conversations or party games are not the order of the day. In every last family or friend that I inquired about this past week, there were at least two members of theis family constantly on cell phones, iPads, Blackberrys or other such instruments. This didn’t preclude eyes shifting to one’s lap during the meal and I can’t for the life of me think that looking at your lap would bring a smile to one’s face while eating mashed potatoes. There is more to this than meets the eye.

Next year, when the family comes for the evening for dinner and various party games, I am going to insist they not bring their cell phones, Blackberry’s or other such instruments. Jaguar Communications, Charter or AT&T must at least have an instrument that blocks out either incoming or outgoing tweets, texting or telephone calls. This will insure that everyone is listening when I announce that I just won the domino game.

—Roger Boughton is a member of the Austin City Council.