Putting away phones during dinner?

Question.

During dinner, my friends ask everyone to put their phones away from the table and not to be distracted by messengers. Should I do the same? Is it a violation of etiquette and a sign of disrespect to have a parallel online conversation during a personal meeting?

Answer.

In any company, the norms are set by its members. We know of cases where members of the same family prefer to chat on social media with each other while staying in the same or adjacent rooms. And everyone is comfortable! This is, of course, an illustration of a certain extreme, but it is also an example of the fact that "respect" and "comfort" are different for everyone. It all depends on your personal characteristics, preferences and agreements.

In our culture, it is still customary to demonstrate attention to the interlocutor and involvement in the general conversation. Therefore, parallel correspondence with someone can indeed be interpreted as a sign of disrespect. However, we would like to reiterate that this norm may vary from company to company.

Yes, digital technology has transformed our everyday communication. We often hear criticism that people are now sitting, "with their gadgets, and the chances of them talking to each other are much less likely to talk to each other. However, if we look at it from a less pessimistic perspective, it becomes clear that positions, it becomes clear that communication does not disappear, it is simply transferred into the virtual space (and we need to treat this with understanding).