Today's smart phones are both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, they certainly have made business communications easier and faster. On the other hand, people have almost become lost in them. With instant access to email and the internet, we are losing ourselves to cyberspace and forgetting the world around us. When we lose touch, we become less productive, we lose our personal interaction skills and we end up offending the people around us. So how do we reap the benefits of our smart phones while keeping successful business relationships with co-workers and customers?
The answer is to know the proper use and etiquette of this new technology and to integrate it into your everyday business behavior.
We’ve all been quite attached to Cell Phones for a while now. It’s time for us to learn some of the rules–or commandments–of phone etiquette. Phones have changed. People have changed. It’s high time for the two to be in sync with one another to a degree at which we can all be comfortable.
Most importantly, remember that if you are looking at your smart phone, you are not listening to the person speaking or paying attention to your surroundings and you could miss something important or be perceived as not being interested.
At the end of the day we should be a master, but not a slave to it. If your use of the phone is going to bother someone around you, then be a master of it and turn it off. Don’t use it.
Michelle
