First, for those who (helpfully and politely) correct my grammer around here, here’s a tee shirt I saw today:
I am the Grammarian about whom your mother warned you.
Second, is it rude to look at your smart phone during meetings? I guess so, but a) everybody does it, b) even well-run meetings are, at some point, inefficient, and c) it is a bit rude, I’m sure, but it’s hard not to and can be done without losing the thread of the conversation. I think it’s quite rude to do anything more than check it–i.e., to respond to an email is impolite.
I will say this: if you’re having a meeting about the economy and the budget deficit, and someone goes into a rap about how the markets and going to punish us for our fiscal policy, the bond vigilantes are coming, the end is near, yada-yada…at that point, it is legitimate to check your phone.
At that point checking your phone, and perhaps yawning, is an overt and active participation in the meeting and a comment on the value of the speaker’s view.
Grammer is probably married to Gramper. She won’t correct your grammar, but she will go after your spelling.
So many times I’m in a discussion my friends telling them about all the great econ stuff and charts and all on your blog, that I whip out my smartphone to show them what you’ve been talking about. Er, about that which you have been talking. So smartphones rule.
Sounds like a good time to catch up on Words With Friends or the latest WootOff.
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Yes it is rude to look at a smart phone, it is an insult to those of us who carry low status dumb prepaid phones because $10 a month is affordable, $100 is not.
I think that Jared Bernstein probably doesn’t move in circles with a lot of regular phones.
Actually, the correct response to that is to start beatboxing their comments.