My Name Is Caroline and I'm Addicted To My Blackberry
Having just returned from 2.5 busy weeks in the UK, my blackberry is now firmly part of my anatomy. It can be found attached to my right arm and it is safe to say I am addicted to it.
In all seriousness though, when I left the UK five years ago, Blackberry’s were reserved for senior management. You rarely saw them come out during a meeting and NEVER saw anyone checking for messages over beers on a Friday night. Well the latter doesn’t seem to have changed that much (except senior management and the spattering of American expats), but it seems that the addiction has spread across the Atlantic with 38% of Americans and 31% of Brits now carrying a smart phone.
So, during a full day meeting, we began to question Blackberry etiquette. According to a Dealbreaker post in 2009, Wells Fargo fines people $100 for looking at their Blackberry in a meeting. However, in today’s ‘want it now’ culture, is it right to expect that all attendees will ignore the outside world for eight hours? Is the odd stealth trip to the ladies room the only ‘proper’ way to deal with your exploding inbox or is it perfectly acceptable to whip out your ‘Berry’ at the table and email away?
It’s hard to say what ‘proper’ Blackberry etiquette should be, but my thoughts can be found after the jump. Comments welcome!
Blackberry Dos & Don’ts
DO
- Do have an out of office message on if you are going to be at an all day meeting
- Do check your blackberry once an hour on a work day, minimum (but stealthily)
- Do respond to emails within two hours on a work day, even if it’s just an acknowledgement
- Do make stealth trips to the rest room to handle urgent emails
- Do give meeting attendees a ‘heads up’ if you think you will need to check emails during a meeting due to an urgent matter
- Do trust your teams to respond to emails if you are out of the office or on vacation
DON’T
- Don’t check your blackberry in a meeting… Wait until you get to the elevator
- Don’t try to do your emails under the table... Everyone can see you!
- Don’t ignore an email for more than two hours if no one else is copied
- Don’t leave your blackberry on vibrate—those in the meeting will undoubtedly hear it buzzing
