Perhaps we’re a little “too connected”?

If you were to sit in a class at a local college you would notice a very interesting trend. You may also see it at work, at board meetings; eating at productivity. I notice it all the time and actually actively participate.

I’m talking, of course, about the use of PDAs and other personal electronic devices to check things like text messages, emails, and even Facebook.

This has become one of the newest forms of office etiquette faux pas. Employees are now spending less time paying attention at meetings and more time on their phones and PDAs. It has become so out of hand that some businesses have begun to complain about people using their phones at work.

As far as college goes, there is nothing more annoying than being in the middle of a test and someone’s phone goes off. However, if you’re listening to a lecture and checking your email or sending texts, I don’t see too much wrong with it as long as you’re not being distracting to those around you. If you’re sitting in lecture and you’re in a group that expects you to do work, however, there is a serious issue if you’re spending all your time checking your email. This is where it becomes an issue in the workplace.

If you’re at a meeting and your team member is at the same meeting, or worse, at a meeting where he or she was supposed to get information for the team, and is constantly checking his or her phone, then what did he or she actually retain from the meeting? It causes a breakdown in communication because they could have missed a very important part of that meeting. Also, when people are doing more than one thing at once, like trying to listen to a meeting and reading emails and text messages, then they are less likely to retain the information, or they will retain bits and pieces of it.

A smaller issue facing those who use their phones during meetings and at other social functions could be making someone quite angry. If you have something very important to convey to another individual and all he or she wants to do is download emails then you’ll probably end up frustrated and angry. At a New York political coup, Tom Golisano said that he got fairly angry when meeting with Democratic majority leader Malcolm Smith, who Golisano often gives large campaign contributions to, spent more time on his BlackBerry than to the issues he should have been working on.

There will likely be some workplace rules facing people soon once workplace rules catch up with technology and productivity will go back to average.

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