I hired a van this weekend to move some furniture. There was one man dealing with customers when I went to pick up the transit and I was second in the queue. Just after the previous customer had gone off to their vehicle, the phone rang and the man answered it - I thought here goes another 10-minute wait. Instead he explained he was with a customer and asked the caller to phone back.
I complemented him on his behaviour and he said the customer in front of him was always more important than the one on the phone. Full marks to Kendall Van Hire a down to earth company.
Too often these days the smartphone is king and woe betide anybody who dares to interrupt our messaging, surfing, whatsapping, instagramming or whatever else it may be that we are engaged on using these incredible devices.
I caught myself this week in one of those acts that are part of these everyday occurrences in our working and social lives that somebody described as “phubbing” or phone snubbing. I was texting something on my phone in a meeting room when a business colleague came in and started talking to me about something important. I said I was listening - but still went on typing my inconsequential text. Shame on me. We are above all else people and should recognise that face to face communication matters and is not subservient to electronic communication.
This is a serious business matter. Here is an American Express article from 2013 that talks about how mobile phones may be actually damaging business communication The cell phone turns 40 years old this month. Are we less productive because of it?
Things have not necessarily improved in the last few years. Smartphones may be positively damaging to the way we think. See this comment from a Harvard Medical School blog According to a new study, the mere presence of your smartphone, even if it isn’t ringing and even if you aren’t looking at it, can hurt your performance on certain cognitive tasks.
The study it refers to is a University of Chicago paper which summarises the advantages of smartphones but considers the challenges to human behaviour quoting Andrew Sullivan who is an English-born American author, editor, and blogger We all understand the joys of our always-wired world—the connections, the validations, the laughs … the info. … But we are only beginning to get our minds around the costs.
Don’t get me wrong. I recognise all of the advantages of our modern linked and connected electronic world and the opportunities and benefits it brings. I just think it helps to get it all in perspective. I like this quote from the author Vera Nazarian: “It's easier for a rich man to ride that camel through the eye of a needle directly into the Kingdom of Heaven, than for some of us to give up our cell phone.”
I complemented him on his behaviour and he said the customer in front of him was always more important than the one on the phone. Full marks to Kendall Van Hire a down to earth company.
Too often these days the smartphone is king and woe betide anybody who dares to interrupt our messaging, surfing, whatsapping, instagramming or whatever else it may be that we are engaged on using these incredible devices.
I caught myself this week in one of those acts that are part of these everyday occurrences in our working and social lives that somebody described as “phubbing” or phone snubbing. I was texting something on my phone in a meeting room when a business colleague came in and started talking to me about something important. I said I was listening - but still went on typing my inconsequential text. Shame on me. We are above all else people and should recognise that face to face communication matters and is not subservient to electronic communication.
This is a serious business matter. Here is an American Express article from 2013 that talks about how mobile phones may be actually damaging business communication The cell phone turns 40 years old this month. Are we less productive because of it?
Things have not necessarily improved in the last few years. Smartphones may be positively damaging to the way we think. See this comment from a Harvard Medical School blog According to a new study, the mere presence of your smartphone, even if it isn’t ringing and even if you aren’t looking at it, can hurt your performance on certain cognitive tasks.
The study it refers to is a University of Chicago paper which summarises the advantages of smartphones but considers the challenges to human behaviour quoting Andrew Sullivan who is an English-born American author, editor, and blogger We all understand the joys of our always-wired world—the connections, the validations, the laughs … the info. … But we are only beginning to get our minds around the costs.
Don’t get me wrong. I recognise all of the advantages of our modern linked and connected electronic world and the opportunities and benefits it brings. I just think it helps to get it all in perspective. I like this quote from the author Vera Nazarian: “It's easier for a rich man to ride that camel through the eye of a needle directly into the Kingdom of Heaven, than for some of us to give up our cell phone.”
RSS Feed
