Cell phones are tremendously useful, but they’re also tremendously annoying. They interrupt us constantly when we’re trying to do other things.
No one makes calls anymore, but phones have gotten more intrusive than ever.
To help, I’m proposing three simple rules for cell phone use. Follow then and reclaim your peace of mind:
1. If you’re eating or talking with someone else, don’t check your phone. Ever. Excuse yourself and check the phone in the restroom if you need to.
2. Airplane mode isn’t just for airplanes. Our phones shouldn’t constantly interrupt us, so put your phone in airplane mode when working on a project, taking a meeting, or eating with other people. Try it and you’ll find you get a lot more done.
3. Unless you’re under 20, any text conversation becomes tedious after two messages per person. Texting isn’t for long conversations, and chances are the person you’re texting has other things to do. Make your point and wrap it up.
Poor phone manners have given us a new word: Phubbing. A portmanteau of “phone snubbing,” phubbing means ignoring the person you’re with to pay attention to your phone. Chances are you’ve been on both sides of this one, both ignoring the person next to you and being ignored.
To find out what we should do about phubbing, I reached out to Scott Steinberg, author of Netiquette Essentials: New Rules for Minding Your Manners in a Digital World.
“Phubbing is a major faux (phone?) pas that should be avoided at all costs. Not only does it take you out of the moment and interrupt the natural flow of dialogue and interaction between people, it actually sends the message to others that you aren’t present or actively engaged with them, and/or find other activities and individuals more important,” Steinberg says.
“Whatever your concerns or priorities, the problem is that it distracts you takes you away from the individual and shared activity at-hand–and gives the impression of snubbing or ignoring the other party, even though this may be the last message you actually wish to send.”
Now that you’re aware of it, make an effort to stop doing it. And if you have a spouse who regularly phubs you, I recommend leaving this column in a conspicuous place for him/her to find.
Follow TROY DREIER at http://twitter.com/TDreier or e-mail him at loggedon@mac.com.
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