Thursday, January 13, 2011

Vexing Texting Habits on the Job

Have you ever been a customer in a retail shop or restaurant and been annoyed by an under 30 aged employee texting away on their mobile device and ignoring you completely?

Unfortunately, too many of us have and that includes their employer!! This all too common habit of “Wait a minute, my private universe is calling” can result in a customer just walking out as it is just too much bother to find someone else to help. It reminds one of the children’s game of hiding in plain sight, can you find me?

This seemingly irritating habit is part of the phenomena of instant connectivity, heralded as communication. It is part of our world as evidenced by the success of the film, Social Network and by the nomination of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg as Person of the Year.

Staying connected is a highly prized asset and doing that wherever, whenever takes precedence over real world, real-time events that pale in contrast. Think of the advertisements; you can call anywhere, anytime, the utmost convenience, unless you wake Mother up at 2:30am on her vacation just to chat as you forgot that there was a time zone difference!

However, this need has influenced college lectures, internships, jobs and even relationships as it is seen as diminishing the person physically in front of the texter. Rudeness …or something else??

Waiting, for nearly anything, is not an American trait as we like what is happening now and delayed gratification is pretty passé. Think of the jokes about waiting in line at the supermarket, bank, coffee shop, the red light- this is a common fault for so many of us. Five minutes is an eternity for us as we rush on to something else.

Under 30’s are used to multitasking many details so texting comes naturally to them. They are called the
“ Internet Generation”, used to instant knowledge and communication without delays.

 They can easily juggle data when concentrating on the immediate and blocking out other messages. It is natural to skim through complicated mobile device “short cuts”: getting to what really matters which is the latest update from friends.

However, the overall image of the texter is negative and can cause the loss of sales/revenue and in some cases, employment.

What to do about this?  Some employers have banned texting outright, some will allow it only on breaks and others are too busy with other business operations to monitor this lack of attention. Why tolerate this at all? Perhaps time and effort have been put into training the individual and so the employer is reluctant to dismiss them, then risk this action being texted to many all over town.

However, in the long run, this hurts business, which no one wants. Putting policies in place at the outset and referring to them, and to the consequences will stem this tide and who knows, it might bring back consciousness in the present.