In the Globe this morning there is a great article titled “Smartphones: the ultimate conversation killer”. It goes into several examples of how you are out with your friends having a great time and a question gets finally asked that nobody has the answer too… what happens you pull out your device and within seconds find the answer. But this quick access to info has some people frustrated and believe pulling out your mobile device kills the conversation.
“We’re at a restaurant having drinks and you want to stop the conversation and show us something on a three-inch screen? It’s like, ‘No thanks. That’s the lamest get-together…It becomes ‘Oh cool, have you seen this?’ And the next 30 minutes are spent one-upping each other with ‘funny’ YouTube videos”.
I’ve been this person for sure. It’s so easy and fast to get the info you need. But it’s all about etiquette and choosing when you really need the information or e-mail/texing that person. The article states that some friends are starting “to implement bans and exert anti-smart phone peer pressure on users who commit social faux pas…friends have adopted an informal rule to set their phones aside, facedown, whenever they’re gathered around a table”.
About a year ago, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) published “Mobilizing Your Common Sense: Cell Phone and PDA Etiquette” that gave basic rules of when to handle your device. This speaks more truth today wherever you are: office, driving or out with friends.
More here at the Globe
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