I have always felt that phone / tablet interaction creates a limited and limiting framework. I don’t give up on those devices because I see the potential for them to be so much more than they are today. Today’s apps are very much the equivalent of Internet 1. We are waiting for the Internet 2.0, or Social Web, to arrive. Porting Social web to a phone isn’t enough. Porting existing productivity apps has the same shortcoming. The apps need to be much more flexible in the activities each one covers.
I fully agree that we do need downtime from these things, yesterday I watched a nature documentary without any sound, in total silence. It was soothing watching a family of bears wandering through a fairly desolate landscape, some sweeping panoramic shots of mountains, then a snow leopard attacked a group of mountain goats. It is a different experience without the narrator, very engaging and memorable. It may be even better with some music.
Also agree about metro rides, unfortunately some of our metros have seats along the side, so you face the other people. They don’t like it so much when you just sit and stare — even they expect you to be doing something!