Now I've heard it all!

You are definitely justified.

As a teacher, it really is alarming to learn time and again from tired pupils that they 'spent all night on my tablet' or 'Love Youtube' - definitely not safe or suitable for 9 year olds! Many don't want to play outdoors after school - a lot of them say that their favourite way to 'relax' is on their tablet. A high proportion of 10 year olds have Facebook accounts - illegal, but encouraged by parents.

When we go out for a meal we focus on each other. If you look around a restaurant these days you will see the majority of couples checking their phones / texting. Young children out with their families are often sat with a DVD playing in front of them. They are not being taught to socialise and they are not being talked to.

Quite aside from the worries about language development and social interaction, these devices cost hundreds of pounds and I am constantly amazed at seeing little children handling / playing with such expensive equipment.

Someone recently gave me a bag of soft baby toys, suitable for up to 2 years, but it also included an old mobile phone. That won't be getting any daylight.

Don't get me wrong - I think the internet is a wonderful thing and opens a world of education, but I think we are brewing very negative social and educational implications through allowing devices to babysit children.

There - rant over ...

I feel the same. When DGD and her partner visit for a meal, they don't look at their phones unless a message comes through, but my daughter of nearly 50 is on her's nearly all the time when she's here. If we're talking on her landline, I can tell that she's on her laptop or Smartphone whilst talking to me....so much for my scintillating conversation....

Definitely another old fogey here.
My friend's family even 15 years ago would all sit in the same room emailing or texting each other rather than talking. It was so bizarre to me that I stopped visiting her because nobody would actually talk!
Sadly she now has the most dysfunctional family I've ever met.

I hate seeing people glued to their iPhones etc everywhere you go.

I'm definitely in the old fogey category . I hate techno and all this istuff makes me spit. My 12 year old granddaughter asked for the newest model of phone - to be liked at school !! If you don't have certain makes/ models you're shunned .
At coffee break at work most people sit playing games or message other people - I find it comical but also a huge intruder in the room . You see it everywhere though - pubs, bus queues, on trains . It's changing social interaction ?