How many things listed below do you do?
It is now common for us to find ourselves in a situation where, in the middle of a movie in a cinema, someone’s loud ringtone goes off. And while a million eyes shoot in the direction of the sound, the owner that just made himself noticed wrestles in his back to find and turn it off. As he is finally done, he gives this reassuring smile that everything is OK and yet we can see his apologetic eyes begging for forgiveness.
One might come out as an old codger by saying it but the truth is our electronic gadgets make us impolite. Technology has really helped individuals take control of their lives but at the same time it has turned us into disrespectful people. Get to know how tech in making us rude.
Leaving a voicemail is now seen as rude
Back in time when there were only fixed line phones, voice messages was the order of the day. While we all leave to work we will switch the phone to the responder and any caller that can’t get to us will just have to leave a message.
Now that we take our phones with us everywhere we go, nobody wants to here about those voicemails again. The option is still available though but most tech guys just feel it is so outdated that they may even feel offended to be sent a voicemail.
That aside, some prefer only intimate people to call them and they get worried when an unknown person contacts them through phone without having a prior less intimate contact. They prefer text messages. So basically, today voice calls are preferred for intimate people and text messages for new potential callers but voicemails are out of the question even though still available.
Comment: I don’t think leaving a voicemail message is rude. However, I don’t love it when someone leaves a “call me” message. I can see from the missed call notification on my phone you were trying to get in touch with me. Leaving a voice message at this point has no value and is just a waste of time.
Talking face to face vs talking on phone
It seems today’s teenagers prefer to talk on phones more often than talking face to face. Just recently Mark Zuckerberg made the suggestion that there is nothing wrong with using the phone while you are on the dinner table with someone.
It is now normal for people to try to handle 2 conversations at the same time. It can be quite annoying when you are conversing with somebody who will have to excuse himself every 5 minutes to also attend to the caller. We all try to cope with such personalities. It is unlikely that this becomes acceptable in the future but there is a growing number of people that develop this habit lately.
To fight back the phenomenon, a coffee shop in the U.K went ahead to come up with this rule; any customer using a phone will not be served.
Comment: Completely unacceptable! If you have an important call to take you excuse yourself and leave the area where you’re located to a quiet area where the person/group you’re with is not subjected to your personal conversation and the caller can hear you.
No need to be on time so far as you text
Human beings seem to have this inherent desire to make excuses. When it comes to getting to a certain place on time it is no different. Some people just feel that it is OK to text a message when they are late and that should be enough to settle the case. It is just a matter of saying “Sorry am late, am on my way coming”. This behavior still can’t be tolerated by punctual people though.
Comment: Sending someone a text message to inform them you’re running late is common courtesy, but certainly not a get out of jail free card. You still have to make every effort to be on time.
No greetings on emails and text
Contact numbers and email addresses are already saved in advance in the address book. So when exchanging mail with our friends we don’t feel the need to reintroduce ourselves or even say hello. We just go straight to the point without wasting time. We’ve even stopped greeting one another online. It’s like greeting is a thing of the past.
Comment: I still use greetings about 50% of the time. If I’m addressing a group it’s “Good Afternoon…”. However, if I’m shooting some a message asking them to grab water I’ll bypass the greeting.
Requests for basic information to random person is not acceptable anymore
Google is always within arms’ reach and it has become the place where we look for all the information we need. Even when it comes to finding the closest gas station it doesn’t make sense anymore to ask the neighbor.
The fact is the answer to those question are right there on the computer so why ask a stranger you don’t necessarily want to interact with. Even co-workers would expect you to search for the answer online so why bother them.
Comment: I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand it’s nice to simply ask someone to quickly provide a bit of information. On the flip-side is there anything wrong with encouraging your coworkers to become self-sufficient? What do they do when you’re not there?
Ringtone competition
People now want to be noticed by the ring of the phone. It has now turned into a noise making competition where everybody is showcasing his best ringtone at the wrong time, like in the cinema or the restaurant. Tech lovers are always chasing the best ringtone in town.
Comment: I like ringtones, but unfortunately have my phone on vibrate the bulk of the time. And apparently this is actually one time I’m doing it wrong. I create ringtones for each of my friends so I know it’s them when they call me. I don’t create ringtones to make a personal statement about myself.
Facebook is for birthdays
In the past, you would expect real friends to remember your birthday. They are the ones that you expect to send you card or at least give you a call on that day. All this is gone. Today any lazy friend can quickly wish you a happy birthday on Facebook just with a few clicks. And it is not like that particular friend would have remembered had it not being Facebook that reminded him. Nobody seem to really care of late.
Comment: I don’t often write on people’s walls for their birthday. If they’re a good friend they get a call or a card, lunch, etc. I have important birthdays on my calendar. I’m not going to say I don’t ever use Facebook for birthdays, but it’s not often. Also, I don’t approve of the general “thank you for the birthday wishes” message. I like to respond personally to each person who took the time to write on my wall.
Thank you letters don’t exist anymore
In the past, if you received a gift, you would be compelled to write a letter to the sender showing appreciation for the gesture. With emails, those letters started getting electronically sent but with Facebook, somebody can get away just by writing an effortless thank you message of the wall of the sender, with the rest of the people viewing it asking themselves what it is all about.
Comment: This one just makes me mad. I completely disagree with the thought that a text or email is a sufficient thank you for a gift. Completely wrong. If you know someone well enough that they’ve given you a gift, you know them well enough to send an actual thank you note. Come on people… where are your manners? Thanks Mom for raising me right.
Trolls
With the level of anonymity that the net offers, some just feel free to unleash a level of vitriol that they just wouldn’t have tried in real life. Just looking at the kind of silly comment on Facebook and YouTube it is obvious that people feel free to full around.
Comment: I’ve seen this too many times. I try to never say anything to someone via email that I wouldn’t say to them in person and I expect the same. I know many times people have become more daring via email because they’ve got their “internet courage” (think beer muscles or liquid courage), but this is flat out crap.
No need to spell well, the reader will guess
Internet browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome do have spelling app integrated to them to underline all our typing mistakes but nobody cares. People prefer to quickly type anything with all kind of mistakes and abbreviated word. The assumption is the reader will be able to guess what you meant.
Comment: Lazy? Careless? Stupid? Take your pick. Unacceptable on every level.
View the original “Ten Ways Technology Is Making Us More Rude” courtesy of SiteTrail.com
1. Partially agreed on Voicemails. I don’t want a “call me” message at all, but I do like voicemails with information as to why you called and when you need me to call back. I have fighting/screaming kids in my house half the time and unless the caller wants to hear that when we’re trying to have a conversation, it’s better to leave me some info so I can get to a quiet convenient place to call you back with answers to your questions.
2. Agreed on Phones at the dinner table or similar situations. I totally disagree with the notion that multiple conversations at once is normal. When does anyone talk to two different people at the same time face to face on two different conversations? Just dumb and rude. But that hasn’t started with texting or Facebook, that started as soon as cell phone calls became widely available.
3. Totally agree with the ridiculous nature of the anonymous internet and how people say things that are unbelievable. I wish there was a way to make it so people could only comment on web sites, news stories, tweets, etcetera with their real names attached. If you have the time to put your opinion down somewhere online you should have the courage to put your real name behind it. (My real name is Bax Rakken.) 🙂