Texting

Being punched in the face for an iPhone is not pleasant. Regrettably, I'm one of the growing number of victims who can say this from personal experience. A couple of weeks ago, I was mugged on a quiet afternoon in my cozy Old Irving Park neighborhood. I made the mistake of entering what I call The Smart Phone Zone - in which I tried to walk, listen to a podcast and tweet at the same time. Meanwhile, two large men in hoodies silently sprinted up to me from behind. Before I had a chance to turn around, one of them began punching me in the head and knocking me to the ground while the other kicked me and ripped my iPhone 4 from my hands.

May the fastest thumbs win. Chicagoland natives Alyssa Podwell of Homer Glen and Rachel Armstrong of Park Ridge will compete Wednesday in LG's 6 th annual U.S. National Texting Championship in New York against nine other contenders for a chance at winning $50,000 and the title of America's Fastest Texter of 2012. Since March, the girls, along with thousands of people across the nation, have been competing in weekly texting challenges designed to test speed, accuracy and dexterity.

I've had a booty call relationship with a guy for a while. I haven't seen him in probably two months, but we used to hang out every couple of weeks. He's been texting me a lot recently to meet up, but I'm not interested in casual sex anymore. (I'm looking for an actual relationship). We don't really have a lot in common outside the bedroom, so it's unlikely we'll be friends. Do I have to “break up” with him? If so, how do I do it without hurting his feelings?--B.C. Blues A few years back I went on a date with a girl.

** (out of four) Apparently nobody in “The Son of No One” has heard of self-defense and accidents. Otherwise, rookie cop Jonathan (Channing Tatum) wouldn't be freaking out over the reporter (Juliette Binoche) who follows anonymous letters about two unsolved murders that Jonathan committed as a scared kid in 1986 Queens. (Clearly whoever's texting Jonathan messages like “We know what you did” is an “I Know What You Did Last Summer” fan.) Writer-director Dito Montiel (“A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints,” “Fighting”)

YOU GUYS! HE'S BACK I THINK! Thebe Kgositsile, p.k.a Earl Sweatshirt is the one member of the LA rap collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (or just Odd Future..you know,if you're texting or something) that we haven't seen much of since the video "Earl"  (Don't watch that at work) that helped propel the Odd Future clan to meteoric heights over the past year.  Welp, he joined Twitter today with a promise to release a new song when he hits 50k followers. We caught that message at 6:32.

Jay Cutler and Kristin Cavallari's very long engagement (including the breakup, then re-engagement) looks like it will have its happily-ever-after soon. According to eonline.com, the Chicago power couple already have a date set, though they're keeping the details quiet. Cavallari talked to Giuliana Rancic for an E! special that will air March 10. In the same interview, the former reality star said the second time the Bears quarterback "proposed," he sent her the ring in the mail.

Between texting, Yelping, tweeting, Instagraming and coming up with a good line for a Facebook check-in (don't judge), distracted dining has become the new norm and, let me tell you, I am all for it. But it looks like one restaurant owner is trying to change our dining etiquette. According to a recent CNN story, a restaurant in L.A. is offering customers a 5 percent discount to check their phones at the door to be more in the moment with their meal, and with each other. Huh. Back to the basics?

Not everyone has been on a great date, but we've all definitely been on bad ones. Ones that were so bad, they left a sour taste in our mouths for the place we had the date at. This is a story about one of those dates. Accepting this "date" at Hi-Tops was a terrible idea--as it was barely a date at all--but I was going through a dating drought, so it is what it is. I met this guy on a Big 10 bar crawl and had been talking to him for a couple of weeks. But he never actually asked me to hang out. So when he calls me at 10 a.m. one morning to see if I wanted to watch the Michigan State game at a bar with him, I hesitantly agree while wondering if he was an alcoholic and also feeling confused (and judgmental)

Let's get this out of the way - the characters on “Girls” are kind of insufferable, kind of selfish, a lot self-absorbed and very much struggling human beings. They are upper-middle-class, white girl twentysomethings in 2012, after all. And so am I! On the surface, I share a few things in common with the main character Hannah: 24 years old, aspiring essayist, decidedly funny-looking, annoyingly sarcastic at times, horrible decision maker when it comes to men, very low tolerance for drugs (none at all, really)

Remember when your mom had a no-texting policy at the dinner table? Mine still does, and it doesn't matter how much I try to explain "I'm just tweeting!" to her - it's "rude" to click away on your phone with friends or family. So I'm pretty sure she'd vomit from anger if she heard about the latest trend in tweeting-on-location. Theaters and performing groups around the country have been setting aside "tweet seats" for audience members to freely tweet throughout performances. The groups include everything from the Carolina Ballet in Raleigh, N.C., and the Dayton Opera in Ohio to the most recent local option of "tweet seats" atthe Tribune 's"Chicago Live!"