Laptops, Email, ... : Be Here Now. Don't lose your credibility by being elsewhere than with the people you are working with

From a friend, quite senior at his company, who works for one of the big computer and media related companies:

Most everyone has their laptop open in most meetings, and yes, I do emails during meetings. Don’t know what goes on in meetings at the very top of the executive hierarchy. 

My intern is of a new generation: he never concentrates on me. I am about to convert him to full time and my message for him is the hippy one: “Be Here Now."

If you are supposed to be attending to someone, they better feel that you are attending to them rather than to your computer, phone, etc. They actually notice, and may not be willing to play second fiddle to your email and text messages.