Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Is It Just Me?

I'm really starting to detest "crackberries."  Call me old-fashioned, but when I'm in the company of someone else, I expect their attention.  It's annoying to me to be having a meal in a restaurant with someone and have them pull out their phone to check email.  Even brief phone calls I can understand.  But email isn't urgent.  I think someone checking email in a social setting is the equivalent of a man spotting an attractive woman while on a date.  The other woman may only attract his attention for a brief moment, but his date knows it and the damage is done.  


Years ago I felt the same way about call waiting.  I had a friend who was one of the first people I knew to get that option - and it came without caller ID so you wouldn't know who was calling.  So, if I was on the phone with her and another call came in, she would put me on hold to get it.  And then she would usually tell me she had to go and that she would call me back.  She would never ignore the beep.  Another comparable situation is being waited on in a store.  The phone rings, then the sales clerk answers it and proceeds to wait on the person on the phone.  In all these scenarios, the message is you are the least important person in the triangle. 


Often, when someone pulls out their phone to check emails, I think how rude it would be for me to pull out my ipod or (if I had one) my eReader, or even just a book.  Really, how often is email urgent?


Parents often complain about children playing handheld games or teenagers texting while in family settings.  But how is this any different than checking (and sometimes responding to) email?  Again, the person using the electronic devise is putting it over the relationship at hand.


Maybe it's just me, but I think it's yet another sign that we're losing our civility.

4 comments:

Heather Iacobacci-Miller said...

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I agree with you on the rudeness. But I am starting to realize that it is a result of our technology boom. I am in my mid-30's and grew up without cell phones, pagers, email, home computers for the most part (had a few in school, but not at home). I think "etiquette" is changing rapidly. Most of the people texting their hearts out during the middle of dinner with friends don't even seem to recognize how and why it's rude.

Cherie said...

I do (somewhat) understand the young people with the texting. It's the older people, who did not grow up in this technological culture, that I have a problem with.

Thanks for visiting my blog as well, Heather. I recently discovered your blog and read it regularly.

Deanna said...

I purposely don't have mine set to notify me when I get an email and I generally have it on silent when I'm out unless I'm expecting an important call.

I still refuse to have caller I.D. or call waiting.

Now, I must admit that when my husband and I are out for a casual evening, we both are likely to check Facebook once in awhile. ;)

Cherie said...

Deanna, well, if both dinner companions are on the same page as far as facebook is concerned, I suppose that's okay. :)