I agree with you. It's constant blah blah blah in the cockpit now. It's numbing. The PM was always expected to be following along with the PF anyway. It was just done in a much more subtle way. As a former mil instructor pilot, my goal was to know exactly what the other guy was doing but not be in his face and I definitely didn't expect him to ask permission before doing his job. Some things yes, but I think we've crossed the line into numerous extraneous exchanges.