It may be true that smartphones and books can get you through a long queue, it does not solve the problem though, only makes it worse.
Queues can be indicative of a more serious issue - indifference. Government offices have earned their way up to the top of this list.
Government queues could very easily be improved by either getting larger offices, hiring more officers, optimizing queue lines, estimating times and allowing you to return after 3 hours instead of making you wait and a hundred other ways any of you could come up with in less than 5 minutes.
The problem is not the queue but the organization.
Queues can be indicative of a more serious issue - indifference. Government offices have earned their way up to the top of this list. Government queues could very easily be improved by either getting larger offices, hiring more officers, optimizing queue lines, estimating times and allowing you to return after 3 hours instead of making you wait and a hundred other ways any of you could come up with in less than 5 minutes.
The problem is not the queue but the organization.