It seems legislators are no more able to separate themselves from their cellphones than the average citizen.
Recently, freshman Rep. Denise Andrews, D-Orange, took to the floor to complain about the chatter, including cellphone conversations, that make it difficult to follow debate in the House chamber.
"We wonder in today's society why in the classroom teachers are not listened to," Andrews told her colleagues. "Yet we sit here on Beacon Hill and do not listen to each other."
According to the State House News Service account, some members were unable to hear Andrews' remarks over the din of conversation, and it quoted one legislator as saying she often leaves the chamber to watch the debate on TV, where you can actually hear what people are saying.
"We have created a culture that is distracted because we are plugged in all the time," Andrews told SHNS reporter Colleen Quinn later. "But a society will never work if we don't have time to listen."
Indeed, lawmakers might want to do a better job policing their own cellphone use before imposing new laws on others.
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