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Oh you are most welcome. I am not a fan of the "either–or" paradigm and wrote a whole essay on the topic of binary thinking. My nephew is in his 40s and he does that with his phone. It drives me nutz. I ask him "am I boring you?" He never gets it that his attention wanders that way. I tell him outright "put the phone away."

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At my in-laws a bunch of the youngsters were all sitting together--just a foot or so close together. All of them were looking at their phones and texting one another--TRUE STORY. And then there's the nephew I have that is like "married" to his phone and interrupts our time together with his phone. Yet, as a shut-in with my family all scattered and friends in different states, OMG, if I didn't have FACEBOOK, I would wither away and die. And here I am telling you what I think from my laptop. All things in moderation--a very Aristotle kind of attitude. You are spot on.

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Thank you Billie. That is an all-too-common occurrence I think! I guess one thing to hold on to is that many teenagers will grow out of this sort of thing, but you do worry about the effect smartphones & social media are having on them now. As I say, though, I'm sure most adolescents come to appreciate family time eventually (I know I did). And yes, 100% to the 'All things in moderation' principle!

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