Venting!! What Is It With the 25-30yr Olds & Being Slaves To Their I-Phones?

[slow&rusty]

So I have to rant and vent guys!!

I work for an Engineering Firm with some young engineering grads in the 25-30yr old age range.

During the day they have their I-pods hooked on just about the loudest volume setting and they rather be in their own world jamming than interact and be a part of the activities around them with the other members of staff.

During the day they are ALWAYS texting...and I mean ALWAYS texting.

It came to an annoyance yesterday where 5 of us from the office went to meet a new client for a project and our junior electrical engineer was present but during the meeting duration was texting a considerable amount of time on her i-phone under the table. I noticed it and our Senior Project Manager noticed it and we felt it was unprofessional, a poor reflection and not the impression we wanted to leave, she was the only one at the table of 10 people texting and ironically the youngest there.

As we chatted about it today, I felt that the younger generation (and alot of people in generation) have become slaves to their smart phones and any little chime or buzz that goes off indicating a new text or email coming in, they have to correspond right away, such that they let these little devices run their lives. Really do you have that many friends..or is everything that urgent that you have to respond right away with a "LOL".."OMG".."GTFO"...etc

I went on to state, that we get in the elevator (I work in a fairly tall building in Houston) and the first thing everyone does is grab their phones and scroll through whatever they are scrolling or thumbing through...they then stay asphyxiated to their phone as they walk from the elevator to the parking garage.

Gone are the days where we make friendly conversation, eye contact or interact with people at a human level. Go to a restaurant or park or a social spot same thing...these little 3" long devices have taken over their lives!

Get this...my sister is a Psychologist and is now counselling (married) couples who are fighting domestically while texting each other and sitting 2 feet from each other!!!...They don't make eye contact..there is no raised voices all the fighting is done via a text...society has become delinquent!

Back to my point...If I was the office manager, I would ban:
1) Access to Facebook during company time
2) Really watch how much people text during the day and call them out on it
3) I-Pods...we strive and push a Team Environment and we have an open office concept, how can you do that if someone is jamming away on their I-Pods closed to the world around them?

Ironically and here is the kicker these young texting, i-pod jamming, i-phone slave engineers are pretty sharp technically.

Rant over!
Your thoughts?
I love technology, I love jamming to my tunes and I am still in my 30s, so it is not like I am old codger!
Ok gotta go..someone just sent me a text...
Yasin

[slodave]

Is it bad that I am responding to this via my iPhone?

[slow&rusty]

Originally Posted by slodave

Is it bad that I am responding to this via my iPhone?

yes

[rayporsche]

"Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated"........hahaha !

Sent using the BadAss Incredible Smartphone via Tapatalk Pro !

[slodave]

On a serious note, I do see more and more children at restaurants with mini DVD players and Nintendo 3DS things these days. Totally engrossed in a little screen, not interacting at all with those around them. I do think that's pretty bad form.

[MotoSook]

I'm not in that age group but less than fourty bearly. Wife says I'm adddicted to my smart phone. First my BB then my Iphone. I do not use it during meetings nor when I feel it's socially unacceptable on a wide range.

Company uses Websense and blocks access to personal emails and anything social media related.

I do my share of work on my iphone 24/7. Really. I find it easier to stay on top of things as they crop up then wait until the morning or Monday. I get my company and all personal email accounts on my phone. I also use my personal phone for business. Got rid of my company issued phone 'cuse I hated to carry 2 phones and my phone was already paid for. Company didn't mind and I make enough money to offset. Since I did this my boss followed and so did a manager under him. The cost to what we gain in productivity makes this viable.

Back to your rant...there were times when I was at the engineering consulting firm that I just needed to tune out the chit chat and office talk because I need to get stuff done. I complained to my VP about the chit chat and crap, and his point was he didn't want to limit conversation and he thought it was good for engineers to talk about stuff thorough the day. That's fine, but 80% of the crap was crap. I wanted to get work done without hearing about someone's divorce or their super duper kids.

When I get to the office, I go right to work....those there hours before are still sipping on coffee with arms on the cube walls.


So if I tune out this crap with my iphone and I'm productive...I didn't give a crap what my VP said...

I was productive enough that they let me do what I wanted, keep my own odd hours and I got to tell the VPs what was on my mind without fear of being fired. I had some heated discussions with my former VPs over issues. In the end they supported me and gave me raises and promoted me to project manager. When I left they offered to up my salary to stay...I was a cash cow and did more than my share...and they knew it.

back to your topic...if you find it annoying, have a talk with the younger engineers but try to come off as giving career advice. My guess is that those engineers are productive despite your peeve, so they stay around. It's true one wants to display professionalism, and that's what they need to understand. If you present your complain the right way, you can become a valued mentor.

[BeyGon]

I see young people on dates and at dinner, both texting and talking to other people on their phones, why even go out, you can't spend and evening talking to one person, I wouldn't put up with someone calling/texting someone when I was with them, not my wife, wouldn't put up with it with someone else. Are they that insecure?

[MotoSook]

BTW, my "anti-social" ways were not all day long. I just didn't want to spend 6 hours BS'ing. I chose my social time wisely and didn't offense anyone when I zoned out in work. My drafters loved me because I didn't treat them like crap and I gave them good instructions. Their coordinators loved me because I didn't ask them for the impossible and I was willing to work when they worked and when I asked them to stay after hours, I was they with them and brought treats. I still socialize with my former drafting coordinators and I have no doubt if I wanted back in, I'd have an office waiting. You can horse around at the office and talk projects, but when you let it be known that there are times you have to get work done and you do this by zoning out with your ipod/iphone, co-workers soon learn to respect this, esp. in todays cube farms.

[DavidB911]

The texting constantly when i'm at work is only to a certain couple of people and just for a month or 2 it was non stop, but the girl I was texting was amazing. Its kinda nice because you dont HAVE to text right away, but we usually do.

[Gogar]

I took a rippin' hot chick to Cirque De Soleil once (yes, soggy man-card. Free tix, though.)

Her phone was absolutely BLOWIN' UP the whole time. She was giggling, texting, takin' pics, etc.

After about half an hour of this the nice older couple next to us, who probably had dumped $5xx on tickets tapped her on the shoulder and asked her to put her phone away. I was all for it.

So, she immediately texted her friend "OMG LOL this lady totally asked me to put my phone away LMAO OMG."




I think if someone is working for you you have every right to be a phone-nazi, or to comment directly on their meeting etiquette. Even if they are texting 'business', diverted attention is counter-productive.

[masraum]

I'm only just 40, and I love technology. I've had an android based smart phone for two years and just upgraded to a new one. I also got an iPad in Aug for my b-day in Aug (typing on it now). I'm one of the older guys in my group (we're IT engineers). You'll catch most of us texting occasionally, but not all of the time. We've got one guy who's about 34 who does text all of the time which is weird because our youngest member is a 24 yo who just does the occasional texting. Fortunately, the social websites are blocked, otherwise the same guy would spend a ton of time on those as well.

You won't catch us texting in meetings though.

I have seen folks acting as the OP describes and it still surprises me.

[billybek]

It isn't just young people guilty of this.
When do people have time for personal reflection when they are constantly texting, typing, surfing, talking?
I see countless people walking their dogs texting, waiting for the bus texting, walking down the street texting or talking. The rest of the time their headphones are jammed into their heads avoiding any contact with others.
The Iphone and others like it have really taken the fun out of bar arguments where differences are settled up immediately!
Most people now can't conceive the luxury of being out of communication with the world.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Complaining about anti-social technical engineers.......hahahaha. Posted by my iPhone, Matt J BS Aerospace Engineering.

Seriously though, sounds like you need to talk to them about meeting etiquette and how their actions negatively reflect on them. We have senior managers that hammer away on their Blackberries during meetings, so it's not an age thing necessarily. In regards to the music, if it allows them to better focus on the work at hand, who are you to judge? We have designers of all ages that listen to music because it allows them to tune out distractions and focus on the job at hand. I'm a manager, I spend too much time talking to others for it to be practical.

Just ask yourself which aspects of their behavior are simply different vs those that impede productivity.

[nostatic]

hey you kids, get off my lawn!!!

[MotoSook]

Good point, Matt. Better to have a socially inept engineer who can't dress well and has poor hygiene or a socially hype tech savvy engineer? I've worked with 25+ yrs engineers who never made it pass senior engineer status because they didn't know how to fit in socially, spoke too much, spoke out of turn, ate and drank like a slob and just plain unpresentable.

[azasadny]

Yasin,
I'm seeing the same thing. I'm glad I'm not addicted to online forums or anything like that! Seriously, our society is breaking down and these "toys" aren't helpinf. First, it was the TV, then the PC, now the SmartPhones.... The kids I know can barely communicate...

[stealthn]

Originally Posted by slodave

On a serious note, I do see more and more children at restaurants with mini DVD players and Nintendo 3DS things these days. Totally engrossed in a little screen, not interacting at all with those around them. I do think that's pretty bad form.

You don't have kids do you.....you'll learn unless you want to wolf down dinner so your kids don't start fighting, wining, etc. throw a DS at them and you'll have a nice peaceful dinner.

Back to the topic. I have been to many clients where phones/BB/Etc. are not allowed in meetings just for that reason. The worst case was I saw two employees bad mouthing the meeting presenter via text while in the meeting.

Kids these days don't know jack about working and expect the world.

[scottmandue]

Yes it has got way out of control...

But it is not 25-30 year olds or the iPhone...

Some people just can't control themselves or their phone usage...

It is like drinking wine, a few glasses is fine, but a few bottles is too much.

Seriously, I see a backlash coming... it has gone too far...

[onewhippedpuppy]

Kids these days, what with their long hair and rock & roll music........

[Rick Lee]

This is so beautiful. My new hero.

Viddler.com - Teacher smashes student's cell phone - Uploaded by thechive