Remember when an interruption used to be seen as a disruption? Now it seems strange to me if I have a conversation with somebody that isn’t checking his/her phone. It was the kind of behavior that just happened without ever discussing the proper etiquette, or rules, around having a phone with you 24/7.
Public pay phones used to come in booths, or against a wall with partitions around it, presumably to allow somebody to have a private conversation. What happened to that idea? All of a sudden it’s acceptable and totally normal to talk on the phone anywhere. And sometimes it doesn’t even matter if you’re alone or with people.
I wonder if people get annoyed with this behavior and start using other modes of communication as a way to preserve privacy while corresponding. Perhaps this is part of the reason why texting, tweeting, posting and emailing are all so popular. A perk of using these modes of communication is it puts the user in control of when s/he decides to look at a message or respond. A phone call requires an immediate interaction. And yet, it seems that electronic messages require a different type of immediacy, which also turns into a type of interruption.
A distracting aspect of electronic communication is all the different notifications. Received messages are often announced by a buzz, a noise, a song, a poke, a chime, a bell, a squeak, a croak, etc. Or sometimes a light flashes in addition to the sound. In my opinion electronic corresponding missed an opportunity to be the ninja of communication. Instead it’s like a hungry thing, constantly needing attention. It could have been silent, but instead it makes noise and flashes to get your attention. Your immediate attention.
Maybe the rapid pace with which communication happens gives it a false sense of urgency.
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