Letters: Smartphone addiction not limited to young

Daily I witness adults in the workplace displaying the same addictive traits that Viola Hendley described in her Nov. 29 letter, “After Spring Valley: Ban smartphones at school.” They go to great lengths to hide their smartphone use. I once saw a woman hiding her phone in a Kleenex box so she could update her Facebook status without being detected by her boss.

Such behaviors compromise work quality. I have seen customers become enraged when they were rudely ignored by an employee playing with the phone. I’ve been one of those customers and have often vowed to never return my business to their establishments. At worst, the addiction can be deadly, as in text-induced automobile accidents. People risk their lives and the lives of others to get a glimpse of the text just received while driving. I think most of us would feel endangered if we witnessed the pharmacist filling our prescriptions or the doctor tending to our ills stopping to check their phones.

We must find a way to curb our insatiable appetite for our phones. Why are we letting such a tiny object lower our standards, our principles and expectations?

Khrushchev once said that he could take over our country without firing a single shot. Today, that really seems possible. No one ever looks up anymore; everyone is staring into their phones. They probably wouldn’t notice an invasion or the flag change — unless someone sends them a text message.

This story was originally published January 6, 2016 at 12:27 PM.