[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.