As a serious article, Marta Mossburg's column is a failure ("Driven to distraction: After hand-held cell phones, what will they ban next?" April 13). As a spoof, the column is a failure. There were too many extreme statements to take the article seriously, but just enough truth to make one wonder if it should be taken seriously. True, the date of April 13, 2012, is a tip-off...or is it a typo?

What in the world was this column all about? Obviously not everything in the article could be true...or could it? But the bigger question is: Can I take anything seriously in The Baltimore Sun if a column like this, a thinly-disguised spoof with a good measure of truth, can surface in the paper? Put me down as baffled and annoyed.

Dave Shive, Catonsville