Not Living With Your Nose In Your Phone: It's A Choice
There's yet another article -- this one a blog item in The New York Times by Jenna Wortham -- about somebody being ruled by their phone. Wortham writes:

My phone has transformed my life for the better. It has made me a more efficient worker, enabled a healthy and loving long-distance relationship and allowed me to keep up with friends.

Even so, I'm as guilty as anyone of using my phone as a crutch, either to avoid talking to people I don't know at a party, or to stave off boredom while waiting for a friend in a bar. I'm also easily distracted by the various pings and vibrations coming from my iPhone, and often find myself drawn into an endless loop of checking alerts, reading my social media streams and replying to non-urgent email and text messages. Often, I can't resist sneaking a peek at the screen during movies or other outings. And as much as I hate to admit it, I've occasionally been so preoccupied by a text message that I've almost bumped into someone on the street.

I realize the pull of the phone -- to chimp-like, click the button and check email. But I choose to live life in the moment rather than with my nose in the phone.

It didn't take much to do this. I just realized the value of talking to strangers in bars and letting your mind wander while you're in line and taking in the flowers as you walk the dog.

I also choose to not be one of the self-absorbed assholes making everyone leap around them as they text on the sidewalk, crossing the street, and stopping stock-still at the bottom of escalators. This didn't take some major move on my part -- just a decision and a decision to stick to it, same as I stick to my "no doing stuff on your phone while the car is moving."