Put It Away

I held off getting a smartphone type thingy for a long time because I really didn't like the idea of always being connected. Sure I had a cell phone, but it was barely functional other than for making/receiving calls. Soon after I got my smartphone I actually had to go for a long drive and I had to stick the thing into a paper bag to stop me from being tempted to look at it while I was driving. I'm not a train dispatcher, obviously, but it was a lesson in how tempting those little gadgets are. Put them away.

BERLIN — A railway dispatcher apparently caused the deadly collision of two trains in the German state of Bavaria on Feb. 9 because he was playing a game on his cellphone until just before the accident, according to state prosecutors.