when i was in NY i saw a mother eating dinner with her 4 children and 3 out of the 4 had earbuds and were listening to music while eating.... the 4th kid was eating in silence.
Nobody was talking to each other at all.... It seemed depressing.
My family is deff not high class or anything but one thing my parents always stressed was manners at the dinner table. If i had ever tried to wear headphones at the table i would gotten a beatdown.
EDIT - there were no iPods when i was a kid and all the headphones looked like this:
but the point i am trying to make is still the same
.