Sensible advice for the weekend & beyond: Put down that mobile....and enjoy life

Can anyone really disagree with the sentiments underlying this advice issued by a tourist authority?

"So fed up are Queensland tourism operators with visitors who are preoccupied with their smartphones they have developed a smartphone code of conduct.

The Smarter Smartphone Code of Conduct will be displayed on everything from coasters, in taxis and on bedside tables in hotels across the Sunshine Coast.

Tourism operators say the code is needed to combat smartphone dependency and help visitors make the "most of the moment".

Also, they've simply had enough of tourists walking around, phone in hand, looking down at their screens.

Their message: put the phone down, take in the view and take time to smell the roses.

A study by Galaxy Research, commissioned by Tourism and Events Queensland, found that 50 per cent of Australians believe they could not live 24 hours without their smartphone, while 65 per cent keep their phone within arms reach all day, every day.

Eighty per cent of people surveyed said they had had a conversation with someone who was texting at the same time. And more than 45 per cent of Australians said they had argued with their partner over their phone use."

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