I've been going back and forth over writing this post for a while now. Mostly because I realize the dichotomy of this situation and subsequently can relate to both sides. With the dawn of the multi-(read:ALL)purpose smartphones, we are essentially plugged into these communication devices at all times. Some times for leisure, other times for business, but there exists the common assumption that all refined participants of society rarely leave home without said device. And with that assumption comes an entire host of other assumptions...mostly surrounding response time and mode.
At my previous place of employment, they were very clear about the possession of a Blackberry device. In fact, instead of it coming with my nicely wrapped technology bundle upon hire, I was given a choice to have to have not, because with it came the expectation that I would be accessible outside of standard working hours. There was an expectation that I would respond in a timely fashion...because they're paying for the phone and for me to do so.
So where does the line get drawn when it comes to personal lives? I personally, am one of those people that's almost constantly connected to the rest of the world via my iPhone. It annoys those I'm closest to, and I'm working on giving my undivided attention to them when necessary, but I'm also known in a positive way by other friends and family for my responsiveness. I simply think of it as common courtesy to respond to a phone call or text message in a timely fashion, and most times that means within the hour, if not immediately. This is probably because I hate WITH a passion when I send a message or call a person, that whenever I'm with them they seem to have their smartphone in their hands fiddling away, but yet there's a delay in response. Not to mention if I called you, I kind of expect the same mode of response, unless your text message is explaining why you aren't calling me back...But I think I'm old school in that regard, I savor hand-written letters and phone calls at decent hours and honestly almost abhor text messages. Yes I said it, I really don't like texting, I think it's obnoxious the way a sleuth of them send my phone buzzing in a frenzy and its quite impersonal because inferring tone is incredibly difficult. But I digress...
On the real, where does the problem actually lie? Are our expectations so skewed by developing technologies that we've lost patience completely? Or has the etiquette of 21st century communication simply yet to be updated and widely accepted?
One of my favorite teachers from high school would specifically leave his cell phone in the glove compartment of his car, almost exclusively. And if you reached his voicemail, it would explicitly say such. If you needed to reach him, you could try his home phone, but you understood that there was no guarantee when he'd return the message. It was a lifestyle choice he'd made. He didn't want to be that accessible by anyone, and felt completely entitled to choose when he'd interact with people or be interrupted by some sort of communication. And I can't say that I completely disagree...
At the end of the day, yes you are entitled to choosing that way of life, but when the general assumption is that everyone has a smartphone that's on them at all times and always connected to the internet, it's a common courtesy to at least share that you're choosing not to be that way. And people close enough to you should know without explicitly saying. Friends of mine that I know leave their phones in their handbags and don't check for hours, I don't feel any type of way when they respond hours or maybe even a day later. But it is a self-training exercise on both sides.
If you know that some important people in your life get really bothered or feel ignored when you don't respond within a certain amount of time, maybe you try a little harder to get back to them. And vice versa, if someone close or important to you just royally sucks at communication, realize it may just be part of their personality or lifestyle choice. Either way until someone develops some sort of commonly accepted ground rules of mobile communication, we're all going to keep being annoyed with each other.
Just my thoughts. Weigh in, if you'd like.
On the real, where does the problem actually lie? Are our expectations so skewed by developing technologies that we've lost patience completely? Or has the etiquette of 21st century communication simply yet to be updated and widely accepted?
One of my favorite teachers from high school would specifically leave his cell phone in the glove compartment of his car, almost exclusively. And if you reached his voicemail, it would explicitly say such. If you needed to reach him, you could try his home phone, but you understood that there was no guarantee when he'd return the message. It was a lifestyle choice he'd made. He didn't want to be that accessible by anyone, and felt completely entitled to choose when he'd interact with people or be interrupted by some sort of communication. And I can't say that I completely disagree...
At the end of the day, yes you are entitled to choosing that way of life, but when the general assumption is that everyone has a smartphone that's on them at all times and always connected to the internet, it's a common courtesy to at least share that you're choosing not to be that way. And people close enough to you should know without explicitly saying. Friends of mine that I know leave their phones in their handbags and don't check for hours, I don't feel any type of way when they respond hours or maybe even a day later. But it is a self-training exercise on both sides.
If you know that some important people in your life get really bothered or feel ignored when you don't respond within a certain amount of time, maybe you try a little harder to get back to them. And vice versa, if someone close or important to you just royally sucks at communication, realize it may just be part of their personality or lifestyle choice. Either way until someone develops some sort of commonly accepted ground rules of mobile communication, we're all going to keep being annoyed with each other.
Just my thoughts. Weigh in, if you'd like.
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