New word

Crocodialing - Producing your mobile phone at a party and texting urgently, or listening to an important message with a warm smile on your face. But there is no message, and you are pretending to text - because no one is talking to you at this party.

I've done it. Sometimes I take it one step further and actually have one half of a conversation with someone. And sometimes that conversation lasts a long time. One time when I was walking several scary blocks back to my hotel in the big scary city of Minneapolis, it lasted 30 minutes. But that was more of an attempt to avoid making eye contact with shifty individuals than a social safety net.