The Disconnected Society

We are a changing society addicted to technology.

I think I checked my phone twice yesterday.  I was very intentional about not being on it while I'm with my family.  

I love the socially unacceptable comment.  Unfortunately it is true.

Richard,

I do find it rude and disrespectful when someone uses their electronic device at a meeting or social event.  On very rare occassions I answer a call during these times. 

Brigita

Now a days some folks think it is rude if you do not text them back immediately or pick up your cell phone when they call you. 

Hi, Richard!  You can find this post on today's "Last Week's Favorites".

I was recently at lunch with my 22 year old daughter and she got a text. She picked up the phone to respond and I told her she was being rude. I could tell by the look on her face that she was genuinely surprised I thought it was rude. I decided to phrase it another way. I asked her how she would feel if she were sitting with a young man while on a date and he responded to a text? She said it wouldn't be a problem for her. It's normal to respond to texts even if you're with someone else. That makes me sad. I long for the day when I had her undivided attention.

Well said!!  I don't like it when people text when they are with me, so I don't do it to them.  If it is urgent, I ask if they mind if I respond.  Here at home we have a rule during family time....electronics get tucked away in another room!

Richard it is still rude to be in a room with people and be so disengaged.  I have a son in law who's head is always bent over his phone.

Richard, I actually use this as a marketing strategy for my buyers who want to reconnect with their kids....there's no cell service at Fishhawk Lake!

(woohoo!!!!)

It would be tought to be a speaker or a trainer in this day and age. Any classs I have been in EVERYONE is looking at their phones, emailing, texting, etc. Very few are actually looking at the instructor or the speaker.

Reading the comments has made me thankful for my kids (daughter 16, son almost 19). Though they both have unlimited texting...they don't use it that much.  We talk a lot. I am SO  thankful! :)

Hi Richard, Pat, featured this on her selections for the week and it was a great choice. I think there is also something else going on beyond what you have mentioned. Insecurity and boredom. People get addicted to the devices to off set being insecure, uncomfortable, embarrased, feelings of inferiority and a host of other reasons. By using the device, they then seem to fit in as most others are doing the same things for the same reasons. Using devices make people feel connected but in fact, they are simply familiar and not actually connected most of the time. Sadly, it has become a replacemant for so many people as a crutch. Most of the conversations are repetetive, redundant and mostly a waste of time and energy. Using the device for business as a way to inform or edify an important event or when a decision is needed is more the exeption than the way most of the use of the devices are actually used by the majority of people.

Richard, thank you for pointing the lazer at an offense that every professional should takr steps to eliminate immediately.  "Modern convenience" has become "modern  intrusion."  When a client sets aside their time to meet with me, they should have my undivided attention.  What ever happened to "please leave a message, and I will get back to you shortly?  Text messages are not printted on NCR paper.  They will last long enough for my client at hand to complete their thought.  They got in an automobile, drove to meet me, and are focused on the task at hand.  I make no apology for not stopping them while I read a message from someone sitting on a couch elsewhere.  I will make every effort to respond in a reasonable time frame.  As a child, I was taught that it is rude to but into someone's conversation.  I still listen to my mother, and hope you do.

Richard, these comments are not pointed at you, but to those who think the world must come to a hault when they want someone's attention.  I always loved the old Record-a-call answering machine: you could monitor the incoming call and know the true priority of the call.  Right?

Richard, we've got to fight the good fight - I have no problem telling someone they're being rude or asking that they put their phone away.  I am just as attached to my phone as anyone else for business, but if I'm in company, unless something urgent comes up, my phone is away and usually on silent.

Richard,  I think the most blatant example of technology rudeness happened earlier this year.  I wrote a lease agreement for a renter and he consulted his phone the whole time.  I could barely get him to tear himself away from the phone to answer the questions posed by the agreement.  That being said, I think it's fine to check your phone during a meeting.  Particularly during the boring parts.  ;-) 

Have a happy New Year Richard Weisser at (770) 827-6225 with Better Home and Gardens Real Estate Brokers.

great post and so true

Richard...society has become more and more like outcasts.

People do not know how to relate to others they meet with out there being tensions about saying something wrong.

You can aways hope that history will repeat itself I suppose we as humans have evolved over the years and perhaps one day we be likes animals with no sense of control.