I'm not the first one to address many of these points and I won't be the last. As we continue with our day to day business and personal lives I think these are good reminders and something we are hopefully passing on to others.
•1. There is no need to raise your voice when talking on your cell phone. If you feel the need to raise your voice because of background noise then it is likely not a good time to engage in cell phone conversation as the person on the other end might be trying to interject something into the conversation but can't. Cell phones aren't like land lines in that the conversation can't be effectively carried on simultaneously. Not everyone in the restaurant needs to hear you, go outside or return the call.
•2. Intimate or emotional calls should never be shared in public. While you might be pleased that your 4 year old is now fully potty trained the people in line at the bank could care less.
•3. And about being in line; end or disrupt your conversation before you reach the teller, checker, postal employee, fast food order taker or any clerk. Basically never approach someone while you are on the phone. Recently a small local post office started to refuse to help customers who approached the front of the line while on their cell phones. The customer is asked to go to the back of the line.
•4. Be very careful of placing a caller or texter in a priority position over a live person. Unless it's an extremely important call or text you should never accept a call or engage in texting in the middle of a friends concern, a family member's funny story or clients frustrations. If you're expecting an important call let the people you are with know in advance.
•5. Cell phones should always be turned off at a movie or live theater and silenced during lectures or presentations.
•6. Ring tones... Why do some people insist on obnoxious ring tones? Pick a nice quiet ring tone so that everyone who hears it doesn't stop their conversations or disrupts what they are doing because they are trying to figure out where the noise or rap is coming from. My opinion is that a ring tone says a lot about a person and you know what they say about first impressions.
•7. Listen to the message. A caller leaving a voice mail message likely has more to say in the message than just "call me". Listen to the message before calling the caller back. It could save you both a lot of time and frustration. The caller wants to know that you are ready to talk about the subject matter and you want to be ready in the event you have to check on something before returning the call.
•8. Don't use the cell phone if you are driving. The last thing you want on your conscience is that you seriously injured or killed someone. Unless you're a supertasker (better than a multitasker) you should not even have the phone on. Here is why; Researchers at the University of Utah report that only 2.5 percent of the population can be classified as supertaskers, individuals who have the ability to successfully-and that is the critical word-do two activities at the same time. In the study recently completed, the two activities included talking on a cell phone and using a driving simulator. Overall, the participants' performance was impaired when they tried to drive while talking on a hands-free cell phone. While performing simultaneous tasks, braking time was 20 percent longer, following distances increased 30 percent, memory performance declined 11 percent, and the ability to perform math problems decreased by 3 percent. The loss of abilities while performing both tasks was comparable to the impairment seen in drunken drivers.
Among a few participants, however, there was no change in braking times, following distances, or math ability, and their memory skills improved by 3 percent. However, only 2.5 percent of the volunteers fit into the supertasker category. "According to cognitive theory, these individuals ought not to exist." The problem is, there are many more people who are simultaneously driving and talking on a cell phone than there are supertaskers.
The bottom line in all of this is to "leave the egos at the door" be courteous and be safe.
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