I noticed the same thing when on trip in the US, (probably happens all over the first world). People almost living through their phones these days.
I remember one time at Jimmy Jonh's. There they were a guy with his sailor uniform, and a girl, sitting at the table with their phones, not a single word for an hour. It was like they weren't even together. Whatever he was coming back home, or going away, it was amazing to see that they were together but alone at the same time... or maybe there was a fight before they went in and they didn't want to talk to each other.
