Amen. It is healthy to stay in contact with family. The luxury of knowing your wife & kids are just a 11 digits away makes life more bearable at sea. I have something written up as such in my engine room standing orders. I tell the crew to use their phones to contact their families as appropriate while on watch. If something comes up & family business becomes more important than ships business then call the chief or someone else to take care of the ships business while the crewmember steps away. We’re all family men/women & we’ve all been there, handling a crisis at home while on watch happens to everyone eventually. For most cases, it’s best just to let everyone know, step away & take care of it. The only thing worse than a crewmember on their phone on watch is a crewmember lying & hiding it while on watch. This isn’t for FB, checking the news, stocks, gCaptain Forum, Instagram etc. of course. Do the frivolous internet stuff off watch.
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