The Smart Watch Dilemma: Giving Full Attention in a Distracted World
Don’t check your smart watch while talking with someone! Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I believe that the person with whom I’m speaking deserves my full and undivided attention. It used to be easy to do that. Nowadays, with smart watches, it’s increasingly difficult.
I was recently chatting with a fellow professional. I could hear his watch buzz and every time it did, he lifted his arm to look at his notification; it didn’t matter if I was talking to him or if he was talking to me. Every time it buzzed, he lifted his arm, and looked at his watch.
What this told me was that anything and everything else in the world was more important than me. Although he was talking with me, the notification about the breaking news story, the text from his college buddy, the email from a random vendor, the weather alert – all of those were so much more important than me that he had to stop focusing on his conversation with me and focus on something else.
When I’m talking with someone, I give that person 100% of my focus and attention. It’s basic human decency. I want the person with whom I’m speaking to see that I’m fully engaged, that I hear them, and that they have my full attention. It’s just the right thing to do!
I’m not a troglodyte or neanderthal, however – I too have a smart watch. I’m just smart and courteous enough to not check it when I’m speaking with someone else.