Jan 22, 2003 06:17 PM
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(Updated Jan 22, 2003 06:17 PM)
When John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford helped push America into the Industrial Age at the turn of the 20th century, the whiners were everywhere. Landowners railed (pun intended) against the train tracks that crisscrossed the landscape, while environmentalists warned of the perils of Ford's automobiles and Rockefeller's oil derricks. (OK, so they had a point.)
Today, those criticisms have been drowned out by the advantages planes, trains and automobiles offer in commerce, communication and leisure travel. Instead, the criticism has turned to how we can improve those products — and the people who use them — to mitigate the damage to our environment and way of life.
That's because cell phones are a necessity in today's world. Business people who regularly travel must have cell phones to keep in contact with their companies, clients and family members.
Today, there are more than 120 million mobile phone users in the United States, or about half of the nation's population, according to Sprint Wireless. By 2004, according to In-Stat/MDR, the number of surfers accessing the Web via cell phones or PDAs will reach 743 million globally. And as new technologies make reception and usage easier, the need for land-based lines will decrease as the convenience afforded by wireless phones takes over. Already, in countries such as Finland and Japan, mobile phones are more common and widely owned than land lines.
But people in those countries also have learned some basic rules that haven't yet crossed the ocean. Here are five rules of etiquette that we all should follow in our daily communications with the office, home and customer:
Remember that phone conversations are meant to be private discussions, not public ones. Phone conversations shouldn't take place in public places, if at all possible. Some venues that should be avoided are the obvious ones, where your fellow patrons expect quiet or privacy, such as symphony halls, movie theaters, churches, libraries, funerals, etc. When you need to use your mobile phone in public, step off to a more secluded locale. Remember phone booths? They're still everywhere in large cities and are specifically intended for private phone conversations. Step into the booth and continue your discussion.
Keep the volume down. Mobile phone users are notorious for nearly screaming into their tiny handsets, thinking that is the only way the person on the other end can hear the conversation. Here's something you may not know: Conventional land lines retransmit your voice back into your earpiece, so you actually hear what you're saying to the person on the other end. Cell phones don't, but the other person can hear you just fine. Stop yelling.
Use the vibrate option or keep the ringer volume low. Many mobile phones offer the option to vibrate instead of ringing when you receive a call. (Some phones require the purchase of a special vibrating battery.) If you need to keep your phone on in restaurants, movie theaters or symphony halls because you're expecting an important call from a client — or you promised to keep it on in case your babysitter needs to report the latest catastrophe — use the vibrate option. It really works.
Remember that the people you're with should take priority over the person on the phone. If you're already with a client or even just family members, you need to think about the discomfort those people experience when you're chatting on the phone. If it's an important call, excuse yourself from the meeting or dinner table and keep the call as short as possible.
Use Caller ID and voice messages. All mobile phone providers offer the ability to screen calls with Caller ID and to receive messages via voice mail. The costs are typically low — only a couple of bucks a month — and often are built into the overall monthly fees.
