Smartphones And House Of Commons Etiquette

EDM number 2113 in 2008-09, proposed by John Pugh on 20/10/2009.
Categorised under the topics of Members of Parliament, Parliamentary procedure and Telecommunications.

That this House while recognising the enormous benefits of the modern smartphone and the interest it generates, regrets the growing tendency of hon. Members to interact with these devices during select committee meetings and short debates when active engagement with the topic under consideration might be assumed, and the seeming, if at times quite understandable, greater interest shown in e-mails and messages than in the contribution of parliamentary colleagues; and encourages all hon. Members to limit their use of smartphones during proceedings of the House as part of the evolving courtesies and traditions of the House, helping to keep the proceedings of the House as genuinely interactive as the devices themselves.

This motion has been signed by a total of 16 MPs.