{"id":470,"date":"2013-05-23T13:44:54","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T13:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/?p=470"},"modified":"2025-03-05T00:38:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T05:38:38","slug":"debate-banning-smartphones-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/debate-banning-smartphones-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"Sayonara, Siri: the debate on banning smartphones in meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s meeting time and you\u2019re up at bat to deliver an important project. \u00a0You&#8217;ve spent hours devising presentation material and you\u2019re excited to share all of your hard work with your colleagues. As you\u2019re immersed in your presentation, you notice your colleague thumbing through his smartphone. You\u2019re shocked by his discourtesy, until you recall that you were guilty of a similar offense two meetings ago. It brings up the question of cell phones in business meetings: flat-out inconsiderate or no big deal?<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_476\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/iStock_000009528693Small.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-476\" class=\" wp-image-476 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/iStock_000009528693Small.jpg\" alt=\"Cell phone during meeting\" width=\"590\" height=\"421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/iStock_000009528693Small.jpg 820w, https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/iStock_000009528693Small-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/iStock_000009528693Small-298x212.jpg 298w, https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/iStock_000009528693Small-620x442.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 590px) 100vw, 590px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-476\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Using cell phones during meetings is common and annoying.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>When people fiddle with their smartphones, it\u2019s unclear whether or not they are taking notes, running Google searches, or playing solitaire. Therefore, when people get phone-happy during meetings, it appears that they\u2019re not giving their colleagues and employers their undivided attention.<\/p>\n<p>What are the statistics behind distraction?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Multitasking can make a task take about 50% longer<\/li>\n<li>About 28% of\u00a0 an office worker\u2019s time is lost to interruptions and recovery time<\/li>\n<li>Interruptions cost the U.S. about $900 billion per year<\/li>\n<li>50.8% of workers in a poll by career site <a href=\"https:\/\/www.employmentmetrix.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Beyond.com<\/a> voted cell phone interrupters as the most bothersome<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Is constant smartphone usage an addiction? New research says smartphone dependency derives from brief, repetitive inspection of dynamic content that is quickly accessible on the device. However, it\u2019s not quite an addiction; it\u2019s more a struggle to maintain effective self-regulation over problematic habit-driven behavior.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_482\" style=\"width: 621px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/iStock_000016936205Small.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-482\" class=\" wp-image-482 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/iStock_000016936205Small.jpg\" alt=\"Silicon Valley\" width=\"611\" height=\"407\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/iStock_000016936205Small.jpg 849w, https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/iStock_000016936205Small-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/iStock_000016936205Small-298x198.jpg 298w, https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/iStock_000016936205Small-620x412.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 611px) 100vw, 611px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-482\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">If there is any place where cell phones during meetings are the norm, it&#8217;s Silicon Valley.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Still, banning phones from conference rooms seems overly harsh and not reflective of the times. Smartphones are small distractions, but also mini-portals of information.\u00a0 Sometimes you need to check a fact, make notes, or update the team in \u2018real time\u2019 on relevant news events. <a title=\"Is it ok to be on your smartphone during a meeting\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/business\/is-it-ok-to-be-on-your-smartphone-during-a-meeting-1.1405978\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lee Malleau<\/a>, senior vice president of the Calgary Economic Development agency, said cell phone dependency is also caused by the industry in which you work. \u201cYou go to Silicon Valley and you\u2019ll see very few people who don\u2019t have a phone in their hand all the time. It\u2019s part of the culture. In other industries, it\u2019s not as much a part of the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One option for dealing with phones in meetings is to set a loose guideline. For example, turn your phone off at the start of the meeting unless you\u2019re expecting an emergency call. If you feel the need to look up something, you can tell the group that you\u2019re doing so in order to avoid offending anyone. If people have differing views on bringing phones, you can put it to a vote of whether or not to leave them in.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the day, it\u2019s a judgment call. If other coworkers have brought their phones to fact-check, there\u2019s no reason why you can\u2019t either. However, if you feel everyone glaring at you because you\u2019re too preoccupied with answering e-mails, say adios to the iPhone for an hour.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_485\" style=\"width: 372px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Turn-Off-Cellular-Z-Sign-Ceiling-S-4697-1.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-485\" class=\"size-full wp-image-485\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Turn-Off-Cellular-Z-Sign-Ceiling-S-4697-1.gif\" alt=\"Turn off Cellular Sign Phones\" width=\"362\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-485\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View this sign <a title=\"No Cell Phone Sign\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com\/no-cell-phone-signs\/cellular-two-way-radios-sign\/saf-sku-s-4697\">to switch off cell phones in meeting areas <\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"related-products\">\n<h3>Like this topic? Check out our related products:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div class=\"wraptocenter\"><a href=\"\/meeting-room-signs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.mydoorsign.com\/img\/sm\/S\/Meeting-In-Session-Wall-Sign-SE-5395.gif\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Meeting Room Signs<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"wraptocenter\"><a href=\"\/workplace\/office-courtesy-signs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.mydoorsign.com\/img\/sm\/S\/Silence-Cellphones-Courtesy-Sign-S-5265.gif\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Office Courtesy Signs<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"wraptocenter\"><a href=\"\/Door-Signs\/Quiet-Please-Signs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.mydoorsign.com\/img\/sm\/S\/Cellphones-Table-Top-Tent-Sign-SE-1983.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Quiet Please Signs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s meeting time and you\u2019re up at bat to deliver an important project. \u00a0You&#8217;ve spent hours devising presentation material and you\u2019re excited to share all of your hard work with your colleagues. As you\u2019re immersed in your presentation, you notice your colleague thumbing through his smartphone. You\u2019re shocked by his discourtesy, until you recall that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,14],"tags":[219],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-products","category-office-courtesy","tag-remzem"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sayonara, Siri: the debate on banning smartphones in meetings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The debate behind smartphones and meetings.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/debate-banning-smartphones-meetings\/\" \/>\n<meta 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