This argument has been made over and over and over for years. I enjoy my mobile device. It's extremely useful in many situations. Although I admit that it's sometimes a distraction for me and other people.
But here's the thing: Mindless people will be mindless. They'll find a way. Inconsiderate people will be inconsiderate. If they have an iPhone in their pocket, maybe they'll use that as the tool of their rudeness. But it's the person at the helm, not the device.
The solution isn't the removal or banning of the technology, but the age-old solution of introducing social norms about what is and is not acceptable behavior. We do this all the time with new technologies and other social changes. If you start sending a text message while I'm talking to you, that's extremely rude and unless you preface the act with "excuse me, I just realized I left my child at home next to an open flame and I need to make sure the nanny put him out" then I'm going to treat you as if you just perpetrated some combination of farting and shouting a racial slur. But if there are a few of us having lunch and you excuse yourself to send a couple of text messages or make a quick call while the rest of us chatter on, who cares? Go for it.
The same rules of politeness and thoughtfulness apply. They're not at all hard to figure out. And I think almost everybody has. Except for the few who, like I said above, are going to find some way to be mindless or inconsiderate regardless of what's in their pocket.
The idea that the grandparent is saying anything bad about iPhone specifically is not present in that sentence and is certainly not present in the full comment. I think you should go back and re-read it, then examine why you chose to take this as an attack on a specific brand of phone when it's not even an attack on phones in general.
Of course I did, and I agree with the point. However, I also read the original article, which never referenced a specific phone (it did mention a few vendors in a one sentence, but that's it). The use of "iPhone" versus "smartphone" (again, we're commenting on an article here) has implicit meaning.
"iPhone" is a specific example of something that might fit the case. I could've said "Nexus 4." Or "keys." Or "pack of gum." The idea was to add a little color by use of an example that's more easily visualized. Similar to the bits further down about a setting child on fire and farting in public. Just a little writing trick.
Maybe it would've been clearer had I written, "For example, if they have an iPhone..."
But here's the thing: Mindless people will be mindless. They'll find a way. Inconsiderate people will be inconsiderate. If they have an iPhone in their pocket, maybe they'll use that as the tool of their rudeness. But it's the person at the helm, not the device.
The solution isn't the removal or banning of the technology, but the age-old solution of introducing social norms about what is and is not acceptable behavior. We do this all the time with new technologies and other social changes. If you start sending a text message while I'm talking to you, that's extremely rude and unless you preface the act with "excuse me, I just realized I left my child at home next to an open flame and I need to make sure the nanny put him out" then I'm going to treat you as if you just perpetrated some combination of farting and shouting a racial slur. But if there are a few of us having lunch and you excuse yourself to send a couple of text messages or make a quick call while the rest of us chatter on, who cares? Go for it.
The same rules of politeness and thoughtfulness apply. They're not at all hard to figure out. And I think almost everybody has. Except for the few who, like I said above, are going to find some way to be mindless or inconsiderate regardless of what's in their pocket.