Why is gaming considered anti-social?

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Okay, there's a background to this question. Read on. All of my friends (every last one of them!) are table top role players. I am not. In fact I find it kind of boring. Unfortunately they not only play a lot but, when we are down the pub, talk about it a lot. This is even more boring. Fortunately, I carry a few things with me at all times; a book, a note pad and pencil, an MP4 player and a Nintendo DS. When my friends start salivating over some 'hilarious' game they just played I pull out something to entertain me. Now, if it is a book no one minds. In fact people seem to think it is 'cool' to read in a pub... or sophisticated... or something. If I'm writing it's even cooler. *shrug* Now both of these things require concentration and, though I can multi-task quite well when reading and writing, I tend to let myself get lost in it because talking about role playing is boring! *ahem* IMHO However, sometimes reading or writing is just too much effort and I pull out my DS, with no sound or earphones, to play something mindless like Chocobo Tales. And what happens? I suddenly get every man and his dog telling me I'm being anti-social in the pub. Someone even snatched my DS from me once. How is it that playing a mindless game (I might as well be playing solitaire... something else I do on occasion down the pub) is less accepted than sticking my head in a book or writing fiction?