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Growing dependency on being connected

Society hasn't learned to deal with this obsession.

A number of years ago, I was involved in a scholarship selection committee at York College of Pennsylvania. As part of the process, students read an article and then wrote about it. The subject of the article was the control that communications technology can have over our lives. In particular, it discussed the potential for the cell phone to never let us escape from others, regardless of where we were. Accompanying the article was a cartoon of a person with a cell phone attached to him by a dog's leash.

Reading the article then, I never could have imagined the cultural shift that was going to occur in our society. Rather than learning to control IT technology by keeping it at arm's length, many of us today cannot wait to embrace the constant intrusion of others into our lives. We have developed a dependency on being constantly connected to others. If we are not continuously and obsessively checking our smart phones to see who has called, texted, or e-mailed, we are busy informing the world of our every move and mood courtesy of social media.

I see several ramifications of this addiction.

First, the ability to call mom or dad the instant something occurs retards maturation. There is a reason why the age of adulthood is getting older. We are letting our children remain dependent upon their parents for much longer than previous generations.

Second, this obsession is having negative consequences in the workplace. A member of our advisory board for the Center for Professional Excellence tells of interviewing a candidate for a job in his company. During the interview, the candidate's cell phone rang, and the candidate answered the phone. Upon the completion of the call, the candidate signaled that the interview can continue. Guess who didn't get the job? Worse, guess who didn't understand why they didn't get the job?

When preparing to conduct York College's first professionalism in the workplace study, I read research on the reasons employees are terminated. An emerging trend that accounted for dismissal was violations of IT etiquette. I included a question in both the 2009 and 2010 nationwide studies that asked employers if problems with new employees' IT etiquette had increased, remained the same, or decreased over the past five years.

In both studies, nearly 40 percent of the employers reported that this problem had increased. The 2010 professionalism study included a national sample of upper-class undergraduate students. Interestingly, about 40 percent of them also believed that IT etiquette problems had increased over this time period.

When identifying the problems, the employers and students again agreed. The most prevalent are: text messaging at inappropriate times, inappropriate use of the Internet, excessive cell phone usage for personal calls, and excessive twittering or visiting Facebook. I can't think of a better way to show a boss that you are not engaged than texting during a meeting.

Other than calling for interventions, how can we confront this addiction? As with any addiction, the initial step is to recognize the existence of this as a problem.

A second step is to try not being in constant contact and see if you and those in your network can survive. This was tried at a local college when faculty and students went for a week without cell phones, texting, or Facebook. Talk about withdrawal!

Third, we can start educating our young people on what it is to be professional. Our institutions of higher education can go beyond teaching subject matter and establish standards on how students are expected to act.

At York College, we are doing several things. To start, there is statement on IT etiquette that is included in all syllabi. Throughout the year, York's Center for Professional Excellence sponsors seminars for students, faculty, and administrators. The topics are based upon the findings from that year's professionalism in the workplace research, with an upcoming session titled "Can Texting and Facebook Limit Your Success?"

For my part, I will continue to urge persons to recognize their obsession and to take control of themselves and technology. Bringing Marx into the 21st century, working men and women of the world, throw off your dog leashes.