The Smartphone Dilemma: Alison Ochs Owner/President, EDIT Change Management S\u00E0rl

Flashes of light and a little man ran across bars of his screen as he maneuvered his phone to the left and right, not taking note of the stained glass windows, the artwork, the painted beams, or the beautiful robes worn by the professors. I had to wonder why the child was missing school for this event if he didn’t take the time to look up from his screen even once.

I then became curious to see if he was the only one looking down and turned around to scan the audience. I found young adults checking their social media feeds as their friend talked about her research and some of the negative effects of social media to distinguished professors.

Two evenings before this speech I had been in Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to see Wynton Marsalis play the music of Duke Ellington. The young man in front of me spent a significant portion of the concert on Facebook and Instagram. I was greatly annoyed as the pictures of his friends, his chats, and likes where flashing in front of my site, distracting me from the music and the vibe in the room. I scowled at him; after the intermission, he changed seats with his partner, his phone out of my eyesight but still in use.