We can encounter many rude behaviors in our daily lives. Especially since smartphones came into our lives, the old familiar rudeness has been replaced by insensitivity regarding the use of digital devices. We call this type of rudeness digital insensitivity. For example; the person eating at the table next to you in the restaurant is talking very loudly on his cell phone, your manager is reading his e-mails while you are making a presentation, your friend is replying to Whatsapp messages while chatting with you, the young person sitting in front of you in the movie theater is sending messages throughout the movie and distracting you with the screen light that is constantly on... Sometimes you even see a person coming to a funeral taking a photo of the coffin with his cell phone. The list goes on and on... All these are examples of digital insensitivity that we experience almost every day.
So what do we do when we encounter so much blatant and frequent insensitivity? According to the study, most of us do nothing! The results show that only 1 in 10 people openly talk to the person responsible for the insensitivity. Most people simply ignore the behavior, or try to react with a dirty look, or leave the place.
People avoid confronting people who are blatantly insensitive because they don't know how to speak up. In fact, by their silence they are justifying the other side. By saying nothing, they are silently giving their approval to insensitive and bad behavior. If we want to be a civilized and kind society, we urgently need the skills to confront blatant insensitivity without compromising respectful behavior to address bad behavior.
In this article, I will giveyou a few tipsthat I think can help you to speak up when faced with digital insensitivities :
1-Don't bevague, sarcastic, or nonverbal, just reacting with your demeanor. Giving someone a dirty look often provokes either a reaction or defensiveness on the part of the other person because of the discomfort they feel. Your goal is not to make the other person think about how offensive you are, but to make the offender think about how offensive their own behavior is.
2-Speakin acalmand non-absolute language. Softer voices are less provocative. This approach saves the other person's pride and makes the offender pay attention to what they are saying.
3 -Ask permissionto speakin a polite way. Start by saying sorry and then ask for their permission to listen to your request.
5-Smilebut stay focused. Maintain eye contact, remain silent when necessary and allow them to respond. Do not be aggressive.
6-Despite allthis, the answer may still be "No". If this answer comes, accept it. If the situation does not persist for a long time or your safety is not at risk because of the issue, let it go and move on.
What are your experiences with digital insensitivity? How do you deal with it? Share with us in the form below.
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