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<title><![CDATA[Comments for entry "Spatial Smearing" at Dilbert.com Blog]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/886]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Regular thoughts and updates from Dilbert.com]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from PeterWhelan]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1985251]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Personally, I like it when people whip out their phone and start texting.  I suspected they were not in the present moment, paying attention.   Now I have a clear signal.

Our future is so much better than people thought it would be. Check out this 1 minute video of Walter Cronkite speculating on the home office of the future. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6DSu3IfRlo


Thanks to the smartphone, we have all those capabilities in our pants. In my opinion, a little spatial smearing is a small price to pay.
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<pubDate><![CDATA[FriPMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from phb]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1985216]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Seriously, who answers their phone these days?  I keep mine on silent and respond when I want or am able.  When talking to a live person, the phone goes into my pocket or I turn it over to avoid the distraction.  And yes, I expect the person I am speaking with to apply the same common courtesy or I'll terminate the conversation until they are ready.  Simple.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[FriPMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from billyp]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1985086]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[My daughter just turned 8. Before she can have a cellphone she will have to have to practice showing good manners in this respect. I have seen young people texting under the table while dining with grandparents. Obviously they have not learned basic manners. If an important text seems urgent at least one should ask to be excused before answering it.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[FriAMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from lfstevens]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1985014]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Texting is no different from reading the newspaper over the breakfast table or taking a call, or in reverse, doing email while on a call. In neither case is the &quot;there&quot;. Being in a virtual place it not new, it just looks a little different.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[FriAMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from whtllnew]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984967]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[@Dynalyte

[One common rule of etiquette is to not ask what the rules are. You are presumed to know the rules...That's right, you are being rude right now!]

That would be reasonable except for one thing:  the situations Scott is referring to are relatively recent.  The rules are etiquette haven't kept pace, or if they have old fogies like Scott, me and some of the other commenters on this blog haven't noticed.  We need to get this cleared up and then to be educated on the new normal.  So lighten up.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuPMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from jugglerscott]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984966]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[I thought you were going to ask if it would be ok to fart, as if the person weren't there.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuPMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from Dynalyte]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984965]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Rules of etiquette (rudeness being not folllowing the rules) is one method of people having an understanding of what should occur during interactions.  I.E. what is appropriate behaviour.

One common rule of etiquette is to not ask what the rules are.  You are presumed to know the rules.

Scott, you are asking for clarification with regards to the rules.  I.E. what is appropriate in the above specific situations.  That's right, you are being rude right now!

But I say just toss out the rule about not asking what the rules.  That way you are only breaking one etiquette rule instead of guessing at the rules and breaking a whole bunch.  Next time you are in one of those situations above just ask the other person.  E.G.:  Hey, I see you are getting out your phone to text, is it okay if I....

Yes, it's inefficient, but if your circle of friends isn't too large you can define/set the standard for future interactions fairly easily.  The other people you don't know as well will just have to assume you are rude for asking them the rules instead of just reading their mind.  Lazy non-mind reader.
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from LLLVIS]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984852]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[I think it is also in our nature to find ways to do things easier and faster. Cell phone communication is a culmination of that. Texting is quicker than email, usually, and social media falls under the same basic umbrella. 

That doesn't mean etiquette changes that much. To me, in-person trumps everything else. Yes, dealing with a commercial outlet I am happy to be interrupted so the sales person can at least acknowledge the customer on the phone, however, I (the in-person customer) still expect to trump the call. Acknowledge they called, that you're dealing with another customer and will be back with them in just a moment. At that point if phone customer gets rude or angry, that becomes their lack of etiquette. 

There are and have been people who just don't know how to deal with one another in person anyway. I think this manner of communication and etiquette (sp?) are only amplifiers of those traits that people have lacked ever since we've existed. To a large extent, I don't think it helps improve anything.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuPMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from tmcmh]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984845]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[I think the early patterns of etiquette in this area were shaped by our universal desire to be doctors -- as in, &quot;I have to take this text/call/page because I'm going to save someone's life so why don't you just stand there, your conversation just isn't as important.&quot;

Of course, we're not doctors, and society will evolve new standards. For plain old phone calls, the new etiquette acknowledges the synchronous, and therefore mutual and potentially disturbing, nature of the experience; so we use asynchronous means (texts and email) to schedule calls. In Skype, most of my calls begin with a short message -- &quot;can we talk now?&quot; That allows my correspondent to opt in, opt out entirely (ignore me) or say something like &quot;let me call you in two minutes&quot; (which is code for, of course, &quot;let's talk after I go to the bathroom&quot;). This is much, much better than the old world of phone communication, where every call was an interruption.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuPMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from delius1967]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984841]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[What's really bizarre about this phenomenon is that texting is an asynchronous communication protocol, and as such doesn't demand an immediate response.  Even if I don't like it, I understand why a sales clerk will interrupt dealing with me to take a phone call from another customer; if he doesn't, the other customer will get angry when there is no response, because he doesn't know that I was there first.  Answering a text, on the other hand, doesn't require that same level of immediacy, yet people still do it.

It's almost a Pavlovian reaction; that beep from your pocket creates an insatiable need to see what it is, even though most of the time you could wait until you finish whatever it is you are doing at the time.  I don't think that ignoring the here-and-now is a natural tendency; the entire history of pre-electronic communication argues against it.  We have to TRAIN ourselves to be rude.

I think Scott is actually on to something when he suggests acting as if the other person was no longer in the room if they start texting.  If someone has trained himself to be rude, we can retrain him to not be.  Accepting the behavior reinforces it, so don't accept it.  Walking away or turning to other activities will signal your dissatisfaction with what they are doing.  They may not care, but without the effort, nothing will change.

p.s.  To the poster who speculates that the reason we need the Sears tower is that &quot;managers suck&quot; at determining employees' value, and so fall back on physical presence as evidence of work:  you're right that most managers suck at determining value, but other than that you are missing the point entirely.  When you are dealing with groups of people, virtual communication is orders of magnitude less effective than face-to-face.  Just as an example, think about the difference between sitting home alone, watching a comedian's act on TV, versus going to a comedy club and seeing them in person.  Same timing, same intonations, same jokes, but the impact is so different that they might as well be speaking different languages.  What you might chuckle at on TV, you'll laugh uproariously at in a club.  Same goes for meetings.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuPMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from jberman]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984838]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[It is true that it appears to be the younger generations who are introducing the new behaviours around in-person interaction and appear to be moving away from face-to-face one-on-one communication. 

However, while this trend is very real, the root cause is not the youth of today but their parents. Today's generation of parents has largely abrogated their responsibility for instilling manners and respect in their children. Past generations of parents took this responsibility seriously and ensured that their children were raised with proper table manners, know how to interact with others in conversation, and showed appropriate respect where warranted. Those of us who are &quot;of a certain age&quot; will know that our upbringing included schooling on appropriate and respectful behaviour and may have also included punishment for failing to behave appropriately.

Currently, many parents are too busy to take a active interest in the development of their children and defer much of this responsibility to TV, computers, and hand-held devices. Parents are also somehow under the impression that they should be &quot;pals&quot; with their children instead of role models and teachers.

If recent generations of children appear to be selfish, self-absorbed, and incapable of respectful interaction, the root cause is clear.
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from cpbower]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984833]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[If you have a teenage child with a cell phone you know that this prediction has already come true.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuPMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from WiseDinosaur]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984831]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[I have a similar feeling when I go to places which look the same as other places - supermarkets with the same layout, or toilets on different floors of the same building. It feels like they are the same place.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuPMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from Kingdinosaur]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984829]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[My serious prediction is that our population bubble will go over the population cliff sooner rather than later.  Some societal important functions, like creating the next generation, kind of require personal interaction skills that we are all losing.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuPMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from uhmdown]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984651]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Kids today are already texting, watching movies, and playing videogames, all at the same time.
Whats stopping them from adding in-person communication to the mix?

I think their brains will evolve to handle all of it at the same time, but at the cost of their attention span. The only difference between our future brains and the brains of goldfish will be.......]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuAMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from sacrebleu]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984650]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[Scott, I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on the film Surrogates. The premise is about how face to face communication is now handled by our better looking robot/avatar selfs. As time passes, nobody goes out because we all feel better being plugged in and experiencing the world through the protective eyes of technology. Also, we now smell bad.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuAMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from tdcrone]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984606]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[I read this at the kitchen table, so I asked my kids about it, but they didn't care to respond.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuAMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from fawn247]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984605]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[A hundred years ago (OK 90 years ago), if two people were in the same room and one of them took a phone call, the situation would be the same.

Feel free to treat the person texting  in 2013 as you would have treated the person who is ignoring you by talking on the phone.  If the person texting is acknowledging you and indicating 'just a minute', you might respond one way.  If that person completely ignores you for 15 minutes, anything goes.  That person is an idiot.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuAMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from Brant]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984604]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[You want spatial smearing, come down to this store and jump in line ahead of me. I'll give you some spatial smearing.

Marcel Proust said that every new technology creates a new vice. He was talking about the telephone, which was new at the time, and the way his maid used to listen in on conversations the way some people did when I was a kid and party lines were still pretty common in the country.

What exactly makes people who telephone so special that they get to be served before a customer who has taken the trouble to actually go to the store, find merchandise to buy and then line up to pay for it?

I know they don't like to lose a potential bird in the bush while making the bird in the hand wait, but is this good manners or good business? I suspect that most telephone customers are just comparison shopping and have no commitment to buy.

And maybe they don't know how to use the Internet?

Which you can't blame for people being stupid. This disease goes way back, to the telephone and before.

I am sure that most of these people whose minds are elsewhere are descended from people who would accept an invitation to dinner and then take a &quot;better&quot; invitation without so much as sending a boy around to lie about other engagements. If their dinner or party is so much better than mine, you go to them. You court them assidiously. Because you're not going to be invited again. I give no rain-checks.

Natural selecton should take care of most of these people until cars start driving themselves.]]></description>
<pubDate><![CDATA[ThuAMCSTE_Rthth]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Comment  from dclapp818]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1984602]]></link>
<description><![CDATA[I would like to request permission to use Dilbert cartoons on my Blackboard online course in Project Management.  This is a closed teaching environment and not open to anyone beyond my class.  There are so many pertirnent strips on project management.  It would offer comic relief as well as project management wisdom to my students.]]></description>
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