Mobile electronic devices have become a human appendage. When was the last time you walked through a mall and didn’t see someone chatting on an iPhone or texting?
During a Thanksgiving dinner this editor attended two years ago, a guest took what was obviously not an emergency call on her cell phone and rudely chatted for two minutes.
There comes a time when modern communications becomes distractive and unsociable. There comes a time to turn off such devices.
We reported this morning the Peoria City Council banned e-mailing and texting by members during meetings. Good move.
Were such a ban extended to the U.S. Senate, Sen. John McCain would not longer be permitted to play online poker during committee hearings. (Only on the Senate floor)
Counterpoint by Rose Law Group Senior Planner Nick LaBadie
[Caution: Devil’s Advocate Ahead]
Don’t we want people to read the RLGR on their phones? Don’t we want protesters in Iran to get the word out about the terrible things happening there? I went on a ski vacation the same week that I launched PinfoB a couple years ago, and my friend’s father asked if I realized I wasn’t fully enjoying my vacation or the people I was with because I was on my phone fairly often dealing with launch issues.
My response was that without my phone that was letting me do business from anywhere, I wouldn’t have been able to be with them on the vacation at all so was very happy that I could spend 30 secs every now and then on my phone and the rest of the day in the deep powder with them.
