7 out of 10 people basically between 18-34 prefer to text rather than talk according to a new LivePerson study of 4,000 in Western nations in that age group.

Large majorities in that age group think it is fine to use their phones during dinner (42%) or in the middle of a conversation (28%).

You don’t need a survey to know how distracted we are becoming.

But parents are teaching the wrong thing by example.

The parent in the doctor’s waiting room buried in the phone invites their children to do the same.

Taking a call during dinner by an adult is the green light kids need to mimic the same behavior.

Endlessly checking the phone to see if you missed something is a rehearsal for your offspring to also do it.

No child under teenage years should have a phone (and that includes parental excuses that they need to check on their whereabouts and safety).

A screen is not a sitter even though most cars are now wired for backseat video.

What parents do does matter.

There is a new Comcast commercial running that shows a mom pausing the Wi-Fi during dinner to the chagrin of her children and husband that hits close to home.

We don’t have to wait for robots to take over — we are creating them.

Balance the phone as a tool not a way of life.

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