In The Moment.

30 seconds was all I needed between speakers, to check my messages and emails. 30 seconds to make sure nothing was going to disrupt my attention from what the next speaker had to say. 30 seconds to scan and prioritise my next hour. 30 seconds to feel in control. 30 seconds in a world of my own, where no one could get in.

So it went for an entire day for 60 to 70 people as speakers and panel experts came and went between tweets, emails, voice messages and the occasional Facebook update. We were attentive delegates whenever the Blackberries and iPhones were holstered but we were technology gun slingers at other times, firing off messages and opinions to anyone willing to listen.

Some of the speakers made light of the attention span deficit, telling anecdotes while people finalised their mobile frenzy. While others adjusted their presentation to the resignation that we are now in a different world of connectivity, where some of us are always on call and we like it that way.

Still in its infancy screen etiquette is developing into two camps, where one has the view that sharing is not caring, especially in confined spaces like elevators where we don't need to be involved in every nuance of your conversation or tweet. On the other hand we have everyone under 30 who belong to Web 2.0, so succinctly described by MG Siegler in a TechCrunch essay entitled “I Will Check My Phone at Dinner and You Will Deal With It".

It's difficult to ignore a pulsing, glowing phone in your hand or pocket and people being curious tend to get distracted, especially when there is no reason to stay connected to their current environment. So conferences, office meetings, parties and the dinner table are now rife with multiple conversations not being carried on face to face but with a data stream of people all over your town, your city, your world. Of course you are going to choose the most interesting one.

Mobile devices make us more mobile while attached to a data leash we can never cut. When something really important shows up in our inbox, even that needs to take a ticket, while we finish polishing up our onscreen personality with extra connections and valuable insights into that night's schedule. Many technology pundits think we are not made to be in the moment and hold our attention because we are not made that way. No doubt that thinking comes from the manufacturers themselves as they develop the next mobile device capable of handling the next Mars probe.

Where the future saw freedom from the shackles of the desk, the computer, that one person to avoid at the party and listening to your Mother, it really ended up as a form of social imprisonment. It has turned into a great social conformity as you reach for your mobile device while your best friends answers their phone, after all what else is there to do?