PPB July 2015

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Unfortunately, this scenario has
become all too common—even during
meetings at work. And it’s not just
strangers you may be annoying with
your smartphone use. New research
from USC’s Marshall School of
Business says pulling out your phone
at meetings sends very unflattering
messages about you to your boss and
colleagues.
A nationwide survey of 554 full-
time professionals earning above
$30,000 who work in companies with at
least 50 employees were asked a variety
of questions about the use of smart-
phones during meetings. What the sur-
vey found wasn’t pretty.
• 86 percent think it’s inappropriate to
answer phone calls during meetings
• 84 percent think it’s inappropriate to
write texts or emails during meetings
• 66 percent think it’s inappropriate to
write texts or emails even during off-
site business lunches
And the kicker? The more money
people make, the less they approve of
smartphone use in meetings.
Dr. Travis Bradberry, Ph. D., award-
winning co-author of the No. 1 best-
seller, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and
cofounder of TalentSmart, a leading
provider of emotional intelligence tests
and training, reads more into why peo-
ple—especially successful people—think
using smartphones during meetings is
inappropriate. He says when you take
out your phone it shows:
Lack of respect. “You consider the
information on your phone to be more
important than the conversation at
hand, and you view people outside the
meeting to be more important than
those sitting right in front of you.”
Lack of attention. “You are unable to
stay focused on one thing at a time.”
Lack of listening. “You aren’t practicing
active listening, so no one around you
feels heard.”
Lack of power. “You are like a modern-
day Pavlovian dog who responds to the
whims of others through the buzz of
your phone.”
Lack of self-awareness: “You don’t
understand how ridiculous your behavior
looks to other people.”
Lack of social awareness: “You don’t
understand how your behavior affects
those around you.”
TalentSmart research also shows
Millennials to have the lowest self-
awareness in the workplace and,
because of that, he’s concerned they are
unlikely to recognize how their smart-
phone use in meetings is negatively
affecting their image.
So next time you are in a meeting
and start to pull out your smartphone to
check emails, Facebook, texts or to play
Candy Crush—think again. Keeping
your phone in your pocket or leaving it
on your desk may result in the best mes-
sage you send out all day.
What do you think? Reach me at
What Smartphone Use Really Says
About You
PERSPECTIVES
4 • PPB • JULY 2015
HE OTHER NIGHT MY HUSBAND AND I were having dinner at a nice restaurant, when we
noticed another couple at the table next to us deep in conversation—through texts on their
phones. I’m pretty sure they were talking to different people as they were oblivious to the other
person across the table. Their little boy, too, was engrossed in his cell phone. This family may have been
parked together but their minds—and interests—were a million miles away.
Tina Berres Filipski Editor
PERSPECTIVES
T