The New Rude

[Cloud]

I enjoyed this article about so many people who are slaves to their glowing machines (shoves iPhone behind her back):

Keep Your Thumbs Still When I'm Talking To You.

almost everyone walked or talked with one eye, or both, on a little screen. We were adjacent but essentially alone, texting and talking our way through what should have been a great chance to engage flesh-and-blood human beings. The wait in line for panels, badges or food became one more chance to check in digitally instead of an opportunity to meet someone you didn’t know.

So, is it:

When people are out and they’re among other people they need to just put everything down,” he said. “It’s fine when you’re at home or at work when you’re distracted by things, but we need to give that respect to each other back

or

This is the way the world works now. We’re always connected and always on call. And some of us prefer it that way.

[TheMercenary]

It amazes me how many people at work are addicted to their I-Phones or Crackberries. 20 or 30 times an hour, checking, and or responding.... The times they a changing...

[Cloud]

I tell my boss not to answer his cell phone . . . while he's sitting at his desk by the office phone. Although he did have to ask me what texting was, lol!

[TheMercenary]

I work mostly with women, they are all addicted to their social networks.

[mbpark]

I have that iPhone or Mac Mail open continually. Sometimes I break out the Crackberry Bold, but very rarely these days (I like the T key!). I have a Macbook I take to meetings, and I get a ton of mail on it (sometimes up to 300 messages a day).

I am expected to answer quickly. That iPhone gets a workout from me. The Mac gets similarly put under a lot of pressure (you find me a laptop that comes out of sleep mode into a usable state as quickly as a Mac and configures wireless as quickly with WPA2 Enterprise/RADIUS coming out of sleep or suspend mode and I'll buy it). I use the Mac because I need to be able to answer questions quickly and have it Just Work.

I have 4 monitors at work (one Thinkpad T61 and one Dell Latitude E6400 with the onboard monitor, and 22" DVI -> DisplayPort and 19" USB -> DVI on the Dell). The E6400 is divided into Word, Project/Excel/Remote Desktop, and Outlook 2007/PuTTY screens. I'll upgrade to Office 2010 when I get 4GB RAM in it. The Thinkpad is running Win7 Pro x64 with 3GB RAM and it flies with Outlook 2010. The E6400 runs Win7 Pro x32 since a lot of software doesn't play nice in 64-bit land yet.

People like me aren't rude. That laptop you see me with in meetings has 5 browser tabs or Citrix sessions open to everything on your project. The iPhone = same. I can check on your project requirements in the meeting. That's worth it alone for the time savings.

Information overload, maybe. Everyone's addicted to their crackberries.

What I find rude are the people who answer the phones in the meetings. That's what the hall is for!

[Flint]

I think it could be very different for IT guys, but I have no real perspective to base that on. My Blackberry is a tool--just like a screwdriver or a jackhammer. My observation is that for most people, their phone appears to be something more like a toy, or amusement device. For me, it's just an extension of the Outlook environment that never leaves my side.

[monster]

I use my cellphone to check the time and take emergency calls. That's pretty much all. occsionally if I'm driving the kids somewhere I will have them call or text to communicate with people we are meeting. If someone checks their phone while we're conversing, I stop conversing. If my phone rings while I'm conversing, I firstly jump with surprise, and secondly excuse myself, explaining that it is only used for emergencies.

If I'm at home..... you'll probably get a faster response by emailing me than calling me from another room.

But yes, It's damn rude to have your attention anywhere other than the person you're interacting with

[DanaC]

I love my i-phone I really do. I surf the net and I play around on apps...but I do not text back and forth when I am in someone's company.

I have noticed that quite a lot of people seem unable to let a text sit until, say, the end of the show they're watching, or a natural break in conversation.

Then again, I am an anti-social cow who cannot be relied upon to respond to texts and calls even if I am alone ;p

[Pooka]

I am not a techie at all... but I have to admit it is nice when I'm at a thrift store or out and about and want to look up what something is etc. I often wish I had never loaded Facebook on my blackberry, but it does limit the content I can view and doesn't show that I am viewing the site... I would love to delete my account, but there are too many people that only seem to communicate through there... then there are the texters... of which until recently... very recently I had avoided responding much, which include my mother... I have given in simply because it limits the amount of talk time and I can do homework simultaneously. I still find it obnoxious and impersonal and prefer to talk in person. I do have to say that it requires me to practice brevity which is without a doubt a good exercise for me.

[Glinda]

I enjoyed this article about so many people who are slaves to their glowing machines

I am as amazed as I am disheartened by the whole thing. What is this weird need/compulsion to be connected 24/7 to every damned person/place/thing that happens in the world?

I don't get it. Don't people have anything else to do with their time? With their minds?

I have a very basic cell phone that I never turn on; it's there for emergencies only. God forbid I should ever have an emergency way out here in the hinterlands, because the damned thing usually doesn't pick up a signal with all the trees and mountains and whatnot out here. I don't even like the regular land-line - I'll often let the machine answer just because I can't stand phones in general.

I have no Blackberry, no Ipad, no kindle, no whateverthefuckelsethereis, and have absolutely zero interest in obtaining such things.

Twitter? Please. What a colossal waste of time and energy (except, as we've seen on occasion, in national emergency type situations, where internet use has been suspended by some crazy dictator type, and the world needs to know that people are being mowed down in the streets).

I don't belong to any "social networks" and resist any and every attempt made to suck me into that useless vortex.

I do have a computer that I use in the mornings to check my email for incoming work (pet sitting jobs, proofreading jobs, editing jobs, etc.); for entertainment purposes, I might spend half an hour or so perusing a few message boards (always much more reading than posting).

IF I have writing jobs, I'll sit in front of this thing all day, but if there's no money involved, I'd rather be doing pretty much ANYthing other than "friending" people or sending completely worthless messages out to the entire world that "I'm standing in line at the grocery store right now."

I. Just. Don't. Get. It.



And I'm perfectly fine with that.

[TheMercenary]

Cool discussion. I think about my crackberry a bit like this at times. I am not nearly as addicted as many people around me, be it I-Pods or whatever..

[DanaC]

If a message comes through on your crackberry do you feel compelled to read as soon as you are aware of it?

[Aliantha]

Most of the time I never look at my phone (HTC). It sits on the bench till it makes a noise.

I don't like it when people feel the need to touch their phone when they're talking to me. Like monster, if that's more important to them, then I'll just stop talking till they're finished.

[DanaC]

The one that riles me is when I'm watching a film with someone and their phone makes a texty noise....and they pick it up and start reading.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by DanaC

If a message comes through on your crackberry do you feel compelled to read as soon as you are aware of it?

Depends on what I am doing, but I keep my crackberry on silent or vibrate for that very reason. It bugs me when other peoples crackberries or I-pones go off over and over, I think it is disruptive to the local waves, so I don't do it. I check it when I get a chance, but not obsessively.