Pager Etiquette When to Unplug Do not drive distracted Use a land-line whenever possible Use capitals and proper spelling and grammar, even on a PDA Devote your full attention to people you're in the room with, (dining companions, coworkers in a working session, the facilitator and other team members in a meeting, etc.) unless you excuse yourself. If you must take a call, excuse yourself and leave the room until you are finished. Do NOT distract others in public places where they might be concentrating or enjoying the experience (parks, performances, libraries, etc.) Setting Your Own Guidelines Your company, or your family, may want to set up some guidelines for the use of electronic devices. Some things to consider: "Check Your Guns At the Door" I usually have a "check your guns at the door" policy in any meetings where the attention of participants is required. This means that all cell phones, pagers, laptops, etc. have to be turned off. To make it easier for people to do without their gadgets, and harder for them to come up with excuses, I send a preprinted agenda with space for people to take notes on. (People who take notes on their laptops are generally also checking their e-mail several times an hour, checking the news and their stocks, or possibly even playing games! The tempatation of all that information and entertainment at your fingertips is simply too great.) This makes our meetings much more productive, and the level of participation much higher. (Maybe partly because everybody is in a hurry to conclude our business and get back to their e-mail!) Silent Only You may also have less formal meetings, touchpoints or workgroup sessions; or sessions where people involved with critical operations functions are required to attend, and are required to be "pageable." If this is the case, insist that all devices be set to "silent" and calls be taken only for emergencies. Technology Free Zones You may want to designate certain areas as "technology free" or at least "silent" at all times, such as break rooms, libraries, family dining areas, etc. This will give you some oases of peace to to think and plan, or socialize in person with co-workers or family members in the absence of beeps, clicks and annoying little tunes. Conclusion Manners are as important today as they were in Emily Post's day. The basics of courtesy still apply in every situation, they just need to be applied differently in situation involving technology. As they pervade the culture, hopefully more people will recognize this. In the meantime, you can start by developing some guidelines for your workgroup, your company, or your family. Pager Etiquette PROPER BUSINESS ETIQUETTE FOR USING ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATING DEVICES: "Cellular phones and pagers also don't belong in church, in a restaurant, at a wedding, a funeral, in a classroom, or at a seminar. And yet, because of the spreading influence of such gadgets, we've all had to contend with rude high-tech interruptions at the most inappropriate moments. Civility and etiquette, it seems, have taken a back seat to an unquenchable desire for constant and immediate information." the scribblings: The World of Text Pagers: "The World of Text Pagers Ways of life have changed for us, the deaf people. That began to happen few years ago when the invention of text pagers came out. Such as RIM 850, RIM 950, Motorola T900, and then Sidekicks. This morning when I was headed out to my biology class, I was surrounded by my friends waiting at the bus station. All of them were facing down on their own pagers. They acted like I was not even there aside them and did not bother to put the pager away to generously chat. Can you imagine yourself finally seeing your friends again and they all are too busy talking on their cell phones ignoring you completely like you are not even there. Not that I am against pagers, in fact, I do own a sidekick and occasionally use it for contacting reasons—not chatting reasons. I tend to leave my sidekick in my purse or backpack, and check every few hours to see if anyone has been trying to reach me. And when I am around my friends, I do not handle my pager yet I find them paying attention on their own pagers. It has been very frustrating. Some could go back and forward, to me and the pager acting like I am the second priority. So the importance is technology before humans? Now that has led me to believe that the deaf culture will actually fade as technology gets more advanced. The deaf culture is going to be all gone someday. Many predict that deaf culture will disappear due to cochlear impacts which is true, however I think the text pagers are a big impact on our culture. I see everyone talking to everyone via pagers. I have seen a friend talking to the other in just the next or same room! Sign language will lose its colors as the deaf depend more and more on technology for communicating. Unfortunately, it is impossible to avoid, almost every deaf person has a pager now and is ignoring others in their own surroundings. Text is their entire world now, plainly just text. It has been so disappointing to me just because I know the culture will fade away s l o w l y." Electronic etiquette - 02/26/01 Gadget Etiquette - Using Technology with Good Manners