In wishing to ban smartphones, Tim Watson (nearly 94) throws the baby out with the bathwater (Letters, 20 December). Being of a certain age myself, I remember when nobody in my close family even had a landline.
Smartphone use can become misuse but, used intelligently, the smartphone is one of the greatest modern inventions. With mine, I can call people on the other side of the world cheaply or even at no cost; I can use it as a satnav; I do not have to speak to everyone because I can simply send them a text; I can store important information and use any number of apps.
I agree with banning smartphone use during school hours – and appropriate use and misuse should be part of education today because, of course, there are dangers.
Joe Cocker (nearly 86.5)
Leominster, Herefordshire
• Tim Watson (nearly 94) fears smartphones. The dude should chill. In 1950, I attended a lecture by John Boyd Orr, the first director general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, in which he forecast global starvation before the end of the century.
Hundreds of sixth-formers listening to Boyd Orr were very worried. Tim is old enough to know that political forecasters are a dodgy lot.
Colin Crouch (nearly 92)
Bognor Regis, West Sussex
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