Like an episode of the classic soap opera, The Young and Restless, which a friend of mine aptly dubbed The Dumb and the Useless, I am becoming a little annoyed with the crusading social media evangelists who gleefully dance on the graves of newspapers and PR firms while busily texting and tweeting people they've never met about every inane thought and intimate detail of their apparently really cool and exciting lives.

I admit it, watching a room full of people at a conference tapping away on their iPhones and Blackberries instead of giving the speaker the courtesy of listening seems to me to be rude and obnoxious, not hip and trendy. If never being present anywhere is the future, let me off at the next stop.

And another thing, I don't care what you had for breakfast or when you are going to the gym or how bored you are at work. Keep it to yourself. Tell me something I don't know, share your opinion about something important, or let me know about an event or cause or organization I might be interested in, and you might get my attention. Otherwise you are just wasting my time.

Look, I get it. It's new, it's evolving, it's your world and you love it. But please try and explain it to me in a way that doesn't sound like anyone who has a different opinion about it or doesn't quite see it the way you do is a total moron just living in the past and hanging on for dear life against the rising tide of global change. Dig (with one g) this: We are all members of the same family and there is room here for all of us.

Social media has its place but so does traditional journalism. Public relations is evolving and it should evolve, but it is still about building relationships with groups you need to communicate with and determining what you want to tell them. Sometimes the best way to build those relationships is over the phone, or even (gulp) being present enough to meet someone face to face. Imagine the possibilities.

I'll make you a deal. I'll listen and learn from you if you will be present long enough to listen to me. Or as Dylan said, "I'll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours."