This article talked about the growing trend to filling our lives
with distractions. How many people do you know who will pull out their phones
during dinner or while watching a movie? Hell, I do that! My nieces and
nephews, and even my grandchildren do it all the time. Are we losing the
ability to concentrate on just one thing at a time. While watching a movie on
television they will be checking messages or even playing a game on their
phone.
Not everybody is so afflicted. When my wife leaves our market
stall to buy lunch or take a break she leaves her phone behind. When I ask
"What if I need to contact you?" she says "That's why I'm
leaving it behind - I'm on a break". ....cont'd - click on the article heading to read the rest of this article.
The ultimate distraction is supposed to be when you pull out your
phone for no particular reason, just to check if a message has come in (even
though you have alerts for that sort of thing). Hell, I do that! And to get
back to retailing for a minute, how often do you see traders standing in their
stalls with mobile phone in hand? Instead of concentrating on customers, we are
looking for distractions, and distractions can be counter productive. It is not
a good look if your customer has to interrupt your phone musing to get service.
I am going to introduce a mid-year resolution. I promise to leave
my mobile on the hall stand while I am watching a TV show, movie, or sporting
event. I promise to resist the urge to take out my phone for no good (business)
reason when I serve at my stall. I promise to look for other distractions in
life, like going for walks, socializing, and focussing on relaxing pastimes
like shopping (it would be nice if that caught on).
Before I claim I am on the path to redemption I should point out
that I have typed this whole article on my iPhone while watching Good Morning
Australia on TV. Maybe it's incurable?