As mobile device users continue to rise, the mobile usage tag continues to head south. Although people use their mobile phones everywhere and for whatever purpose, most of them think that it is an excuse enough not to pay attention to the people around them. Unfortunately, that becomes part of your first impression. Now, combine that with poor interaction skills, even with those you text and message, and you’re a personal branding nightmare before you’ve even said, hi!
Are you not making a false step with the mobile phone? The people around you may think otherwise. Here are some professional mobile etiquette tips that will help you, at the very least, not to let someone feel offended or uncomfortable when you are interacting with your mobile phone.
1. Driving and using the mobile phone
Although there are laws governing the use of mobile phones while driving, some people still feel compelled to break the law and use their mobile phones while driving. Now, if they were satisfied with using the hands-free mode. But time and time again, there are still people who become a road hazard when they answer a call or even send a text message while driving.
How professional are you when you’re getting into someone else’s lane? Or when you’re too involved in your conversation to remember that green means go? Nothing is ruder or less professional than a driver who appears to not care about other drivers on the road, pedestrians, or even their passengers. Just don’t do it.
2. Using your mobile phone while you are with someone in person
So you’re having a nice conversation with a friend, a colleague, or even a date, and then the phone rings, you apologize to answer it, and you end up talking to the person who called for a while.
The mere action of answering the phone says a lot that “maybe there’s something more interesting or important than you” on the other line!
3. Making your phone ring in a place that’s supposed to be quiet
Don’t you find it annoying when you’re in a movie theater and engrossed in the plot of a movie, when suddenly a random person’s phone rings, ruining the experience? Truly, a telephone that rings in a movie theater, in a library, in a church, in a meeting and so many other places, personifies the height of bad manners.
Please put your mobile phone on silent or vibrate so that the rest of the world can see and hear what is happening in peace. (And make sure you can find your phone. Sure, you’re not distracted by your phone ringing, your babble of excuses that you’ll “never be able to find this thing” and that you were “going to” turn it off. Oh, please!)
4. Talking too loud when using the mobile phone
I often wonder when someone does this: is he really on the phone or is he so starved for attention that he’s creating this huge distraction for us? First impressions are lasting.
5. Exposing too much information when speaking on the phone in public
Some people seem to get into the habit of this. They end up talking for a long time using their mobile phone, and the people around them can hear everything from the playful kissing noises they’re exchanging with their partner, to their conversation about bowel movements and constipation.
There’s a reason personal conversations are called “personal” and that’s because no one else wants to hear you cry dramatically while talking on your mobile phone. So when you receive a personal call in a public place, simply tell the other person you’ll be calling back, or find a quiet, relatively private place to talk.
6. Using annoying and embarrassing ringtones
I am all for personal preference and also not putting obstacles in your own way. Therefore, during business hours, vibrate seems to be the safest option.
When you think about it, mobile professional etiquette isn’t rocket science. It’s really quite simple: basically it’s all about using common sense. However, how rare is that?
Remember, you never know who someone is; who will come; or who they influence. Give them a first impression that’s worth a second look, meeting, networking, or interview.