Confession:

I got something out of my flight bag once. It took attention away from monitoring for several seconds. I've often been so engrossed pulling out, filing through pages and reading FAA mandated charts that I've had to say, "say again.." or ask "what fix did he give us"? I've also missed as a crew radio calls for funny jokes and interesting conversations. I've done a puzzle or game, ate some food, fixated on scenery out the window, read a thing, made non-critical banter below 10k. I don't know if I've flown with anyone who can't say the same.

Let any required and non required duty be be done with wisdom, prudentcy and situational awareness. This is what prevents actions from becoming a safety issue, not some arbitrary regulation. Reading the release is probably more distracting than snapping a picture (head up vs head down), though both may not be appropriate at a given phase. And if it can be managed, look back and forth ever so often and scan and cross-check.

As it relates to taking a picture, it can take all but a few seconds, and you can also stop midway and do a scan of the instruments, and back to the camera. Essentially it is the exact same thing as staring at something out the window for a few seconds, you're just viewing it through a screen and hitting a button. PEDs have a stigma, probably because of how it relates to driving. Viewing photons emitted from a PED is always reckless but viewing photons reflected from a city, sunset, mountain, piece of paper can be properly managed. Its perception, not reality. Be smart with with what-when-how you do anything in the flight deck, and for love, be smart about social media.