Esté versus Está
Por eso, una buena idea es no mirar el móvil cuando está con otras personas.
Do I have to use subjunctive?
1 Answer
The form with the subjunctive mood should be:
- ... una buena idea será no mirar el móvil cuando esté con personas. (= but I'm not with people around.)
However, the utterance does not look wrong if you leave it like
- ... una buena idea es no mirar el móvil cuando esté con otras personas.
This happens because we use the present with some focus on the future. Unlike English where its use is different.