Question

During the last repetition of the Amidah by the prayer leader, I thought: once, the reason for the repetition was for people who didn’t know the prayer by heart. So today, when in most prayer quorums I pray in there isn’t even one person who doesn’t know how to say the prayer— is there really any essential reason not to occupy oneself with other things? To read or speak quietly (of course without disturbing the people around me…) Or maybe we’re only maintaining this because of the force of authoritative obligation? Thanks!