Cell Phone Etiquette

1. Cell Phone Etiquette

2. Topics • Screen Your Calls • Limit Cell Phone Use • Take a Break from Texting • Be Aware of Your Behavior • Keep Conversations Private • Choose Ringtones Wisely • Turn it Off • Use Your Manners

3. Screen Your Calls • You do not have to answer your phone every time it rings. You have voice mail. You can return the call later. • If you are engaged in a conversation, it is rude to cut off the person in front of you and answer your phone. • If you are driving, it is dangerous to you and those around you to fiddle with finding your phone and answering a call. Pull over to a parking lot or other safe place and return the call.

4. Limit Cell Phone Use • Do not talk or text when driving. Even when you talk using hands-free devices, you cannot concentrate fully on driving. • Do not talk in restrooms. • Do not talk while waiting in a checkout line. • Stay off the phone when dropping off or picking up a person, such as your child at school. Give him or her your full attention and a proper hello or good-bye.

5. Take a Break from Texting • Do not check messages or e-mails when in business meetings or at dinner with family or friends. It is rude, and it can wait. Give the people around you your full attention. • Do not text in a movie theater or other quiet places. • Do not send personal texts at work. • Do not send bad news in a text message.

6. Be Aware of Your Behavior • You do not need to speak loudly into a cell phone. Use your inside voice. • If you are in a public place, put some distance between yourself and those around you for privacy. Be discreet and keep your call brief. • Stay alert to your surroundings when talking on the phone and walking to avoid bumping into someone, stepping into the path of danger, or making yourself vulnerable to being mugged or attacked.

7. Keep Conversations Private • People do not want to hear arguments or intimate details of your life. Keep your voice down, find a secluded location, and keep your distance from others when talking. • Most sensitive conversations can wait until you are in a private area or until you see the person face to face.

8. Choose Ringtones Wisely • Choose a ringtone that you will recognize easily. • Don’t choose a ringtone that would embarrass you if it rings when you are at work or in other professional settings. • Learn to adjust the volume setting for your ring so that it is appropriate for your location.

9. Turn it Off • Turn off your cell phone in movie theaters, classrooms, hospitals, and in restaurants, and before entering meetings--especially job interviews. • Turn off your phone at funerals, weddings, libraries, museums, places of worship, and on airplanes when the flight attendant instructs you to do so.

10. Use Your Manners • If you must make a call or take a call, excuse yourself. Go outside or find an area where you can speak in private and keep it short. • If you are expecting an important call, inform the people you are with in advance that you might have to take the call.