10 rules of digital etiquette that everyone breaks

Everyday people communicate mostly in a virtual format. Personal and professional correspondence in messengers and social networks is no longer a necessity, but a way of life. It is strange that so far many users are not familiar with digital etiquette. Let’s take a look at the rules that people most often ignore.

1. Keep your phone in your hand during a conversation. If someone is texting or, even worse, scrolling through a feed during a meeting, they are not only listening inattentively (or not at all). It is an indicator that he does not care about the other person and that communication with him is not valuable. If an important call or text came in, it is better to apologize and walk away.
2. Put the phone on the table. “What’s the big deal?” – many people will ask. If texts are coming in, it will be a distraction for everyone. And it’s unsanitary.
3. Voice messages, especially personal messages, are sent. The recipient may be in an environment where it is uncomfortable to listen to such messages, and it is impossible to find headphones on the spot. Put yourself in their shoes and refrain from such approaches. Similarly, it is unethical to listen to voice messages in the presence of someone who is certainly not the intended recipient.Also, it is harder to find information in a voice message than in a text message. A voice message has to be listened to in its entirety to find a fragment, while a text message can be found in a few seconds.
4. Split the text into several messages. Respect the other person’s time, write concisely and to the point. Try not to stretch for several messages, so as not to disturb the person who will receive seven notifications instead of one.
5. Call without warning. Yes, this has crossed the line of decency, and an unexpected call is tantamount to an uninvited guest. Alert them to the call and see if it is convenient for them to talk at that time. 
6. It takes a long time to respond to a message. It’s better to write that you saw the message but will respond later than to read it and remain silent.
7. Abuse of screens. Sometimes a screenshot is really appropriate, but not if you want to share a link, a bank card or phone number, a login, or a password. Copying a combination of numbers from a message is more difficult to make a mistake than copying from a picture.
8. Adding subordinates as friends. This is the case when the employee should be the first to send a request to the boss. The superior must realize that he does not leave the subordinate any choice – he cannot “friend” the boss in the social network and freely post content – even.
9. Do not turn off the microphone during an online conference. In every such meeting there are always people who disturb the entire audience. Most of the time, they have no idea that their microphone is on and creating noise. Test the application before the event so you don’t end up in an awkward situation.
10. Publicly point out other people’s mistakes. This is a form of self-aggrandizement that is quite vile and undignified. If you think it’s worth pointing out, do it in private correspondence.

The same rules apply online as in real life. It’s important to behave in a way that makes everyone feel comfortable. We have highlighted the most common digital etiquette violations. If you notice them in your behavior, correct them as soon as possible.