When a father yells at his son not to talk during davening, and then turns around to discuss business with his friend, that is hypocritical, and that sends a more damaging message then non kosher cell phones and internet in my book.
Agreed. And even if it has the appearance of being holy and proper it can still come back to bite you.
A personal example:
A few years ago, I would often open up a mishnayos during Chazaras HaShatz. I did this for a while until one day I caught my oldest reading a novel during Chazaras HaShatz. When I told him that it was inappropriate to read during ChS, he responded that I did it, so why couldn’t he? I tried (at first) to justify that my reading was different since I was reading something that was Torah, but in the end, I had to concede the point that he was right. I told him that his point was valid, I was wrong, and that, as of right then, I would no longer be learning during ChS.
Since then, I do not learn during ChS and follow the Chazan in the siddur.
The Wolf