Janet CollinsSmart Phones and Etiquette
July 1st 2009 07:31
Smart phone technology has generated a lot of debate about rules and manners and the obsession with staying online or connected twenty-four hours a day.
The constant fiddling with mobile phones during meetings and presentations is now forcing companies to draw up rules for the use of them, something that has been neglected for too long some executives say. Some managers have become so irritated by the constant fiddling on phones they are even banning them from meetings.
Those on one side of the argument believe being permanently connected is the way of the new millennium even that switching off, even if in a meeting or a presentation, can only result in lost sales or opportunities.
On the other side of the argument are those who have been annoyed and irritated far too often by people sending texts, accessing emails or jumping on to their Facebook or Twitter sites on their Blackberrys or iPhones with no regard for the person addressing a meeting or making a presentation.
Enough is enough is what they are saying and calls are being made for a new rule book, an etiquette guide if you like, for how and when to use the smart phone.
I have to agree, I am more with the second camp. I know that in this age that forces us to work in the minute, attention should always be paid to good manners and fiddling with or sending texts on a mobile phone in company or in a meeting or a presentation to me is just plain bad manners.
Having said that, I often wonder why we have live meetings or live presentations at all these days. Everyone is so obsessed with being on line – and many would rather be online than in any live meeting anyway – you have to wonder what the point of any meeting is anyway. Why don’t they just do these on line too?
Smart phone technology, such as the Blackberry or iPhone, has turned our mobile phones into something of a mini-office. That’s not to say that the fiddling and tapping away on mobile phones was absent before we had this technology. Sending texts when in meetings or presentations has long annoyed and irritated many who want audience focus and participation.
It’s just that the smart phone technology has almost justified impolite behaviour. It is saying “I’ve got something more important to attend to than this presentation”.
Over in the USA, some business leaders and political heavyweights are fed up with what they see as rude and blatant use of new technology they are rewriting the rule book. The Creative Artists Agency and United Talent Agency in Hollywood have banned Blackberrys in meetings and state Senate majority leader, Malcolm Smith, was recently asked to leave an important meeting discussing budget matters after he read his emails during the meeting.
Favour is tending towards smart phone use as more of a percentage of people use them for just about everything, all day, every day. They can even replace the old pen and notepaper in a meeting but people need to be a little cautious when using their smart phone for this purpose.
A client could easily misinterpret the note taking as chatting by text as one Manhattan talent-book agency found out recently. The founder and CEO was forced to justify and explain notes taken in a meeting after a client complained about the constant use of the phone by an employee during the meeting.
No matter what is decided as the blanket rule or etiquette in the use of today’s mobile phones when in the company of others, there will have to be some consensus. Otherwise, misunderstandings such as the one just mentioned are going to be everyday occurrences and that can eliminate all of the benefits that the smart phone technology have given us.
Do you use your mobile phone in meetings?
Sourced: The New York Times
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