Eyes up here please

Hands up for anyone that recently went to a meeting, looked around the table and actually made eye contact with a single person. Okay. Now hands up for anyone who recently went to a meeting, looked around the table and noticed that every single person was entranced by their smart phone. In my world, a lot more people raised their hand with the latter.

It's not just meetings either. I now find myself carrying on complete conversations with people, and they never look up from their email. I used to have trouble recognizing people without an OR mask, now I struggle recognizing people without their heads being bent over a phone. In the cafeteria, entire tables of people are all glued to their phones and completely ignoring one another.

I get multi-tasking - really I do, but at the end of the day how many emails do you get a day that are REALLY that important. I actually have to occasionally make life and death decisions, and I can assure you that none of those decisions involved an email. There is nothing on my iPhone that can't wait until I finish a meeting, lunch or a conversation.

What is our new obsession with being constantly connected, and how is it not rude to be completely distracted from the person that actually made an effort to speak to you in person? I recently sent an email to the distracted person I was trying to discuss a case with - it read: please look at me.