When aboard my previous boat, and while at sea, the person at the helm very frequently would read a book or whatever. Couldn't text because it was not possible. We also had one of four monitors set up to play DVDs. Once every 20 minutes a pretty quiet alarm went off and the helm person would scan the horizon, check the radar, check the AIS, check the gauges, etc. It was darker than dark at night, we were moving at 6.8 knots (a sweet spot for fuel), and the highlight of a shift was if we had a cruise ship or other big ship, on radar. STILL, ON MY UPCOMING TRIP, WITH MY 27 YEAR OLD SON, THERE WILL BE NO CELL PHONES AT ALL AT THE HELM. Many of his generation could look down and not even think to look up for hours. He will only be at the helm while I close my eyes for maybe 10 minutes of each hour, and I'll be literally less than 18" away, but still...........