by Daryl Campbell

Things are rolling along pretty good on this date. The conversation is easy and filled with a lot of humor. There seems to be some serious connectivity happening between the two of you. Yeah it’s all good and all systems are go.

At least it was a go until you decided that this would be a good time to practice one of the new rudes. In this case, it was your cell phone. For some reason you figured it would be a good idea to leave it on.

Then just as you two were really settling in, it started to ring. At first you didn’t do too badly. You excused yourself and took the call. Your date was very understanding and told you to do what you had to do.

So you started talking. And talking and talking. Then you got up made another apology and walked away from your date. Fifteen minutes to a half hour later you returned.

Needless to say the warm feeling your date had before the call just got a little bit chillier. Still they were game and attempted to pick up where they left off. That is until someone started text messaging you.

Again you made the perfunctory excuses and apologies but you just had to respond to the message. The problem is you became so engrossed in it that time flew and unfortunately so did your date.

Technology in many ways has made our lives easier. Not only for the ability to stay in touch with each other on an almost instantaneous basis but it has also proven to be a great time save when wit comes to coordinating plans and schedules.

But in far too many instances, people have let it become intrusive to the point of absurd. And that includes the dating realm.

Unless you are experiencing some kind of emergency, potential crisis or have a job where you are on call twenty four hours a day, the best thing you can do is hit the off button on your cell phone, Blackberry or whatever other gadget you have in your possession.

All too often people let themselves get easily distracted and on date that can have devastating consequences. In essence it is telling your date that you are not taking them seriously.

It’s the equivalent of seeing someone you know in a restaurant and going over to talk to them for an hour while your soup and your date get cold.

Stay focused. If you have to let people in your circle or on your speed dial know beforehand you will not be available than do it. All of us are important to some degree or another but not to the point where we must have our energies constantly focused in other directions.

Besides consider how you would feel if the show was on the other foot. If every time you started talking to your date they got a call and gave you the wait a minute sign as they talked to someone else for the majority of the evening.

Understandably you would not be happy. For that reason keep one thing in mind: The goal of going out on a date is dating. Everything else can wait for a little while.

Men and women have been making these mistakes for years.