A friend of mine was watching Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday, and noticed that all of the legislators sitting in the audience had their Blackberries out, twittering away while the TV cameras rolled. She suggested that it was disrespectful (regardless of politics) to be sitting there listening to a speech while apparently preoccupied with other things.Granted, they may have been twittering about the speech itself, but what could POSSIBLY be so important that they couldn't twitter about it an hour later when they're not sitting in front of the guy who's speaking? Multi-tasking is good, but whatever happened to polite, active listening? Whatever happened to etiquette?
She suggested I write about business etiquette and ethics topics that are new. She would like some information to hand out to new employees that covers things the Emily Post wouldn't have thought of.
Here are some of our initial ideas:
- Tweeting (texting, IMing, etc.) in meetings!
- Texting or cell phoning while driving!
- Things not to discuss in Facebook
- Getting people's permission before posting photos that could be embarrassing in Facebook or MySpace (or videos on YouTube!)
- Topics that should be discussed in person (you shouldn't break up with someone or fire them by text!)
- When you should send a handwritten note rather than a text or tweet.
-Paula
6 comments:
IMHO, that's rude, however you wanna see it. In a Japanese context, it is tantamount to 'disgracing' the person directly. However, I must admit, in our generation, technology has somehow managed to cloud our 'ethics.'
With your initial list, hmmm, that's quite a handful already Paula. I would prefer though that you delve more on the first item.
I actually love the idea! The politicians can discuss the issues in an internet chat room, visible to everyone so we can track them and hold them accountable. We can use the Congress building for something useful: turn it into a hotel or something :) tell me what you think?
Nor - that's exactly what I thought. Regardless of who's speaking, it seems that one could at least PRETEND to listen, especially when it's the boss-in-chief!
Wizard - I suppose there is something to be said for that - it would be a green initiative. But the larger issue is this - is speaking to people in person obsolete? Shouldn't a person who's physically in the room with you take precedence for your immediate attention over others who are on the other end of some little screen?
You are right when you say that the rules of tech etiquette need to be rewritten. There have been rules in place for email for years, but now, people really do need to learn proper etiquette when dealing with twitter, texting, facebook, etc.
While all this tech is great, and I am addicted to it as much as anyone, it will also be our doom.
I think I'll go tweet that ... ha haaaaa !!!!!!!!!
Hi from SpeedtCat :-)
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