Digital Etiquette – Part 1

Digital etiquette – part 1

Posted on December 13, 2011 by ubertconcepts on http://www.ubertconcepts.wordpress.com

How to interact in a digital world

You will probably think sometimes: ‘I would like to be a little less available’, or ‘Because of my email I can hardly work’. You’re not the only one. And we do it to ourselves. We ignore that we are switching from a world without digital communication to a world with digital communication, so we fail to agree on the terms of use. Even in the middle ages people knew it was wise to agree on some terms of behavior for social interaction, the etiquette. When business started to emerge, business etiquette was born, but on digital communication, no such effort has been made. In the Netherlands the grand dame of etiquette, Amy Groskamp-Ten Have, has written the best selling reference on this subject ‘Hoe hoort het eigenlijk’ (free translation: How to act properly). For centuries people thought etiquette was for the elite but they couldn’t be more wrong. Knowing how to act is very important. Not only because it aids you to conduct yourself in a respectful manner towards other people, but also because it will help you to act more freely in social interaction. Unfortunately now that we are all connected through the internet, we tend to forget the most basic rules of behaviour.

Connecting by phone

Not too long ago everybody who used a phone was aware of the fact that the receiver of the call had not requested this call. You were also not capable of assessing if this call was convenient. It was common practice to state your name and to ask the receiver of the call if your call was convenient. The receiver therefore had an opportunity to indicate whether the contact could be accommodated. Lets look at phone calls in the present time: Social calls: ‘Hi, its me’ – pause – (I think this is to let the receiver take a guess at who’s calling, or maybe to use caller ID) and than the caller starts chatting away. Preferably talking...