Is it OK to use your phone in a meeting?
I know of lot of people will simply say ‘no’ of course it is not. It can be seen as rude and disrespectful to your fellow meeting participants. When you are in a meeting, you will be there for a purpose and it makes total sense that everyone would be expected to give the meeting their full attention.  

I bet you have you called someone before who has said ‘’I am just in a meeting’’. I have always wondered if this is really the case, as surely you cannot stop a meeting to answer the phone about something as unimportant as to tell me you will call me back, but people do it.

Look around the next time you are in meeting and you will see being on your phone seems to be more acceptable than ever. There will often be phones on the table and the temptation to ‘just check something’, is just too great.  

Ultimately, I think it often comes down to how much importance is placed on the meeting or even how important it is to listen to what someone might be saying at that point in time. It is a judgement call. When you pick up your phone it is sending a clear message to the person talking and those around you, that you have something more important to do and maybe you do.

If you are the one running the meeting or person talking when the meeting attendees are on their phones, should we be feeling disrespected or is this just the way it is? Perhaps this is something we all need to learn to accept and let go of old school beliefs. Just because you called a meeting maybe it is unrealistic that you can expect everyone to always give you their unreserved attention.

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Hayley Coghill • July 6, 2021

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