This generation might have mastered the art of text messaging, but it still has a thing or two to learn about etiquette.
July is "National Cell Phone Courtesy Month," so there's no better time to learn than now.
"Face-to-face interactions with people should always take precedence over our technology devices," said Shanna Carter, the founder and president of Premiere Image Consultants in Auburn. "We take the focus off the person we're with, and what we're telling the person is the cell phone is more important. That's really not the message we want to leave people."
In meetings, the sound should always be turned off or at least be on vibrate, Carter said.
However, if someone is expecting an emergency phone call, Carter said, that person can notify others in advance and be excused when the call arrives.
"We have become, as a society, so dependent on our cell phones that we have gotten to be addicts, and we can't put them down," Carter said. "We are conveying very inappropriate messages to people, and 66 percent of a message conveyed is non-verbal (communication)."
One atmosphere where cell phones should never be used is in a classroom, Carter said,
Carter said first, it distracts students from learning and second, it sends an incredibly disrespectful message to the professor.
Jana Gutierrez, a Spanish professor, said cell phones have never been a problem in her classrooms because she teaches small, conversational classes, where students don't have the opportunity to use them; however, other professors have mentioned issues.
"I don't have a policy that I state in the syllabus," Gutierrez said. "In my experience, the students are polite, but I do know that in some classes some students use cell phones to cheat during exams. If I were in a larger lecture hall, I would include something in my syllabus."
Another area where cell phone use should be avoided is in restaurants, Carter said, because public places are inappropriate for private conversations.
"Always take calls in the lobby or outside because it is rude to have a conversation in front of others," Carter said, adding that another option would be to turn the phone off.
Laura Barron, a senior in English, said seeing people on cell phones in restaurants is one of her pet peeves.
"It's a relational courtesy to put away your cell phone sometimes," Barron said. "(Cell phones) connect you with someone, but they also disconnect you in some ways, like when you're more interested in talking on the phone than the person you're with."
Cell phones should also be silenced or put away in movie theaters, Carter said, so that people can enjoy the movie they paid to see.
"It's absolutely a respect issue," Carter said. "People think that they're being discreet in movie theaters because they're just text messaging, but bright lights are shining in everyone's faces. Movies aren't cheap, and people don't want to see the bright lights of our texts. They for sure don't want to hear a conversation or phone ringing."
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