Alan Gilbert, conductor of the New York Philharminc, stopped a performance in the middle after a patron's cell phone alarm interrupted the music. The blogosphere is going wild - as if they are smarter than the owner of the phone.
I've made similar gaffes. In the middle of a very important meeting - and during the speaker's pause - a text message came through and a jar jar binks scream blasted through the silence. I had forgotten to change the settings. Now I just leave the phone in the car.
The error can happen to anyone yet some act above it all. For example, one person in the room approached me later and stated "I make my employees bring donuts for everyone when their phones interrupt." Point taken but in a different meeting I saw this person checking his messages during someone presenting.
This leads me to conclude that phones are a distraction for other reasons and we dont have socially accepted rules to address the rude behavior. For example, I've witnessed students who text in the middle of lectures, employees surf the web during meetings, people typing on their phones during movies in a theater or at a dinner table, and I've seen people pull out their phones during conversations.
Again - my phone is set aside now during times it used to be near me. Have you changed your approach?
I've made similar gaffes. In the middle of a very important meeting - and during the speaker's pause - a text message came through and a jar jar binks scream blasted through the silence. I had forgotten to change the settings. Now I just leave the phone in the car.
The error can happen to anyone yet some act above it all. For example, one person in the room approached me later and stated "I make my employees bring donuts for everyone when their phones interrupt." Point taken but in a different meeting I saw this person checking his messages during someone presenting.
This leads me to conclude that phones are a distraction for other reasons and we dont have socially accepted rules to address the rude behavior. For example, I've witnessed students who text in the middle of lectures, employees surf the web during meetings, people typing on their phones during movies in a theater or at a dinner table, and I've seen people pull out their phones during conversations.
Again - my phone is set aside now during times it used to be near me. Have you changed your approach?