glance up vs glancing up

[Freeguy]

Hello,

Which option(s) do you choose? (Source: British Council)

1. [FONT=&quot]People spend their lunchtime glued to their screens or barely glance up from their phones. (BC's version)
2. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]People spend their lunchtime glued to their screens and barely glance up from their phones. (me)
3. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]People spend their lunchtime glued to their screens or barely glancing up from their phones. (me)
[/FONT]4. [FONT=&quot]People spend their lunchtime glued to their screens[/FONT][FONT=&quot],[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot] barely [/FONT]glancing up[FONT=&quot] from their phones. (me)
[/FONT]
I'm unhappy about that "or", since it seems to indicate an alternative. Options #2, #3 and #4 work for me.
What do you think?

Thank you.

 

[Freeguy]

Here's the entire passage just in case you need to read it:

In a way, I think it’s quite funny that we’re always worrying about teenagers and young people becoming obsessed with online communication, but if you ask me we need to worry just as much about adults! At the office where I work, even when we have a break, nobody talks to each other unless they absolutely have to, which is a sorry state of affairs to say the least. Everyone’s too busy checking their social networks and sending messages to have time to communicate face-to-face! People spend their lunchtime glued to their screens or barely glance up from their phones. Even during meetings people can’t resist subtly checking their phone, and what really irritates me is when you are trying to talk to someone and they’re more interested in looking at their phone than paying attention to what you’re saying, even though you're right in front of them! Phubbing, I think it’s called!

 

[tedmc]

I would say "take their eyes off their phones".

Do you mean smartphone screens?

 

[jutfrank]

You're right—or is wrong.

Version 2 is what was probably intended. 4 is okay too.

 

[Tdol]

#2 and #4 are fine. Forget #3.

 

[Freeguy]

What's wrong with #3?

Another interpretation:
- People spend their lunchtime [either] glued to their screens or barely glancing up from their phones.

 

[emsr2d2]

What's wrong with #3?

Another interpretation:
- People spend their lunchtime [either] glued to their screens or barely glancing up from their phones.

For me, there's nothing wrong with it.

People spend their lunchtime(s) glued to their screens, or they spend their lunchtime(s) barely glancing up from their phones.

Admittedly, the meanings of the two halves are almost identical but there is a slight nuance of difference. If someone is completely glued to their phone, they don't glance up from the screen at all.

 

[jutfrank]

What's wrong with #3?

Let's get the meaning straight first because that will determine the logic. Are you referring to screens and phones as two different things or one thing? Are the mentioned screens the screens of the phones?

If they're two different things, then or, as in sentence 3, is logical as per the interpretation in post #6. I was reading it to mean that they're one and the same thing, which is why I (perhaps mistakenly) said or is wrong.

In any case, regardless of the logic of sentence #3, it's still a horrible sentence. To be honest, they all are. If you can provide a link to the original context, perhaps we can work out what the writer was trying to do.