Nerd Fight!

Recent nerd fight between GetKempt (http://getkempt.com/dept-of-corrections/drop-the-phone.php) and TechCrunch (http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/21/phones-at-dinner/) regarding use of cell phones in public in general and restaurants in particular. The Wasp Sting has clear and concise rules around this behavior that should be implemented universally.

First, profiles. If you have a smart phone you have the ability to use profiles. The profiles I use:

- Meeting profile (when calendar is set to busy status):
> Alarms silent
> Emails silent
> Phone vibrate
> Txt vibrate
- Nights profile (10pm-7am nightly):
> Alarms silent
> Emails silent
> Phone ring
> Txt silent
- Normal profile (not in a meeting, not at night):
> Alarms ring and vibrate
> Emails silent
> Phone ring and vibrate
> Txt ring and vibrate

It is important to communicate your profile to your spousal unit, friends, coworkers, boss, etc. Under this profile if it is urgent, call. If it is important but not urgent, txt. All alerting on operational systems and incident management systems set to txt as well. Email is a non-realtime communication medium and as such should be checked only at specific times and only when not interrupting other parental, work, or other duties.

Therefore, by this process, if I get a txt at dinner, I know it's either an alert from an incident management system notifying me of an operational issue that more than likely requires my attention, a family member in some level of crises, or a coworker needing my input for an issue they are urgently dealing with. Obviously, if someone calls and it is work-related or a kid or spousal unit, I answer that call 24/7. Period.

If anyone in my cadre of influence violates any of the aforementioned guidelines, they are warned and reminded of the expectations around these guidelines. Continued abuse will result in other profiles set to ignore said caller or txt. (Hasn't happened yet, BTW.)

Obviously the sending or receiving of social media updates are strictly prohibited, especially any cell phone photograph of anything on your plate or table. If you are going to "check in" to alert the burglars on your FB profile you are in Manhattan, do it in the lobby or bar before seated.

I think if most people adopted something similar to this then it would ease the awkwardness of responding to a txt at dinner.