Phone etiquette in a culture of distraction

I think that we live in a culture of distraction. We're constantly bombarded by a glut of information and instructions in the form of news stories, articles, advertisements and Facebook updates. We're so inundated with this stuff that we find it hard to concentrate on one thing for an extended period of time. I'm guilty of this myself. For example, I'll be reading a book, then about twenty minutes into it I'll jump online to check my emails, then halfway through that I'll start listening to some music, then about a few seconds before the song ends I'll check out a few new items in my Google Reader, then look something up on Wikipedia, then after skimming through the article return to reading my book. Or, when I receive a long email or stumble upon a long article, I start reading meticulously but after a very short while I begin to gloss over the content rather than reading properly. I'm still working on lengthening my short attention span.

While being distracted products of our distracting culture is unhelpful in lots of areas of life (for example, studying for an exam, producing a legal memorandum for your associate on time, et cetera), one particular area that gets to me is personal relationships. I reckon that being distracted products of our distracting culture undermines the way we relate to the people we love when we spend face time with them. What I mean is, so many of us fail to be completely present with and focused on the person/s that we're with: a lot of the time, we're too busy texting somebody else or surfing the net on our smartphones instead of being wholly engaged in conversation.

For all my failings as a distracted product of my distracting culture, I make a conscious effort not to use my phone when I'm hanging out with someone. I think it's basic courtesy. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, like if I'm expecting an important phone call during the hanging out, or I need to check the time (I don't have a watch). Otherwise, I want to show the person I'm with that I appreciate them and their time by giving them my full attention. They deserve my full attention; it's the least I can and should do. And I secretly hope they also give me their full attention by putting their phone away and focusing on me and our chat and the moment we're sharing together.

Let's try to be more present with and focused on our friends and families when we spend time with them.

G.

PS. I hope your 2012 has gotten off to a wonderful start.