“SMART,” ACCEPTABLE PHONE…DUMB, RUDE NEWSPAPER?

8/21/13

As loyal readers know, I, like a lot of people who are interested in the markets, have CNBC on in my office nearly constantly throughout the trading day.   The volume is turned down until something or someone (e.g., Art Cashin, Jack Bogle, Phil LeBeau talking about the car industry, usually Rick Santelli, or some huge news event) appears on the screen, but, nonetheless, the TV is on and tuned to CNBC.

This morning, I noticed that, just before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), one of the group of honorees who got to ring the bell was reading from her “smart” phone.   This, of course, was not an unusual occurrence; people are always avoiding conducting the business at hand, such as driving or even simple conversation with a live human being, in favor of staring into their electronic balls and chains pretending to be smart, connected, and/or important.  

But the thought, or the question, came to me, as it has before:   What if that particular person on the podium of the NYSE had been reading a physical newspaper rather than staring into a celphone?   In a prior context in which this thought occurred to me, what if a parent at a school volleyball or basketball game were reading a physical paper during the game?   Why, those people would be castigated and vilified, and, in almost all cases, deservedly so: 

You’re there to ring in the opening of the NYSE or to watch your kid and his or her teammates play a game, not read the paper!   What are you, some kind of a lout?

But if they stare at the “smart” phone, perhaps reading the paper (and my more cynical side suspects the “Entertainment and Celebs,” or some such numbskulled nonsense, section) on that phone, suddenly that’s acceptable.   Oh, yeah, I forgot…they could be doing work on your “smart” phone.  Yeah, they could be.