Netiquette IQ Blog Of The Day - Digital Graciousness ( Netiquette ) In 2015 And Beyond

 

 Netiquette is more than just message etiquette. It  and its rules apply to almost anything which is focused upon digital technology and how to utilize it in society. This article just appears and it is timely as well as it reflects on less discussed Netiquette. I hope it will be a learning experience you!

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Tech Etiquette: 21 Do’s and Don’ts for 2015

A guide to digital graciousness in 2015, whether you’re checking your Apple Watch or snooping with your drone

By

Kevin Sintumuang

The Wall Street Journal Jan. 2, 2015 1:18 p.m. ET

Tim Lahan 

WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY comes great responsibility. Like the obligation to avoid blocking the view of concertgoers behind you when you take an iPad photo. Or the need to keep your from crash-landing on a dachshund. 

Some of us are naturally more attuned to what is proper when it comes to using a technology. We question whether it’s rude to text at a nice restaurant (often as we’re doing it). We lose sleep (a tiny bit) wondering if borrowing someone’s Netflix password is stealing.

Let’s face it: Technology of late has been so fun, so easily engrossing, that it’s amplified the jerkitude of the average American.

In what other era could societal lines be drawn along how we use our tech? There are those who selfie and those who don’t (and those who selfie inappropriately at disaster sites). There are people who use emojis as fluently as ancient Egyptians employed hieroglyphics, and others who swear those endearing cartoon symbols are destroying actual human language.

1. Congratulations! This may be the year that you get your very first drone. (Sales of consumer models are projected to hit 400,000 in 2015, according to the Consumer Electronics Agency.) If you decide to join Drone Nation, you can only use your unmanned aircraft to spy on your neighbors once. Twice if they still haven’t returned your leaf blower.

2. Only one food Instagram per day. Sorry. That’s the only way to ensure that, as a country, our omelets aren’t getting cold.

3. Exception: You may use your drone to Instagram pictures of brunch all you want. That’s kind of cool.

4. Parents: It’s OK to deny your grown children when they ask to “borrow” (that is, steal) your HBO Go password. This year, the service will be offered as a Netflix-style subscription service that will allow non-cable subscribers to stream the network’s shows and movies.

5. Grown children: If you do borrow your parents’ HBO Go password, you must call them once a week just to say hi.

6. Prices on Ultra HD television sets (those with four times the resolution of your average high-def set) will drop significantly in 2015. If you buy one, you can only comment incredulously on the high-def-ness of people’s wrinkles once a day.

7. You can’t quit a social network just because your mom joins.

8. Moms: There’s no need for you to join Snapchat. It’s just a photo-messaging social network where the pictures disappear. (Yeah, we don’t get the appeal either.)

9. Early Apple Watch owners: Yes, you are the proud owners of the wearable that will make wearables go mainstream. But don’t act like you’re better than the rest of us because you can order pizza by talking into your wrist.

10. All smartwatch owners: No messaging during dinner and pretending you’re just scratching your wrist. Wrists aren’t that itchy.

11. You may hear about something called a selfie stick, a telescoping pole with an attachment for a camera or smartphone to allow photographers to get more of themselves into the frame. It’s OK to use one, but do know that you will be labeled as “that stupid tourist with a selfie stick.”

12. It is inappropriate to make fun of someone for using a ginormous phone, like the iPhone 6 Plus or the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. The moment has passed. Phablets are here to stay.

13. Stop using your iPad on the beach, with all of that sand and salt around. You’re giving everyone an anxiety attack.

14. Go ahead and ask people why they’re still using a BlackBerry. That remains one of this decade’s legitimate tech mysteries.

15. Also, you are allowed to make fun of Microsoft for going from the critically panned Windows 8 directly to Windows 10 (which rolls out this year) as if skipping 9 would make us forget about 8. That’s hilarious.

16. If you put your phone on vibrate, it must remain in your pocket, because if it’s on a table it will cause a tremor that will register on the Richter scale. This is more distracting than a Miley Cyrus ringtone.

17. Do not wear virtual reality headsets—such as the Samsung Gear VR and the soon-to-be-available Oculus Rift—in public. For now, restrict your tech-enabled disdain for human contact to the place where these gadgets’ precursors (videogame consoles, personal computers) were initially relegated: the basement.

18. This may be the first year that you buy a 3-D printer, a machine that allows you to print small objects with the press of a button. Stick to jewelry, figurines and the like. No guns, duplicates of keys that say “Do Not Duplicate” or clip-on bow ties. You’ll just ruin it for everyone.

19. The watch, smartphone or earbuds you buy this year may be able to track health data, such as your heart rate and step count. Don’t use the numbers to brag about your hard-core approach to exercise. Fitness trackers are bad enough.

20. Even if your car has adaptive cruise control, lane-departure correction, blind-spot detection and can park itself, you still shouldn’t pick your nose in it. 

21. An estimated 4.9 billion Internet-connected devices, from thermostats to slow-cookers, will be in use in 2015, according to Gartner Inc. Let’s all agree not to buy the Internet-connected toasters that will inevitably be introduced, OK? Let’s keep toast sacred.
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In addition to this blog, I maintain a radio show on BlogtalkRadio  and an online newsletter via paper.li.I have established Netiquette discussion groups with Linkedin and  Yahoo.  I am also a member of the International Business Etiquette and Protocol Group and Minding Manners among others. I regularly consult for the Gerson Lehrman Group, a worldwide network of subject matter experts and I have been contributing to the blogs Everything Email and emailmonday . My work has appeared in numerous publications and I have presented to groups such as The Breakfast Club of NJ and  PSG of Mercer County, NJ.

I am the president of Tabula Rosa Systems, a “best of breed” reseller of products for communications, email, network management software, security products and professional services.  Also, I am the president of Netiquette IQ. We are currently developing an email IQ rating system, Netiquette IQ, which promotes the fundamentals outlined in my book.

Over the past twenty-five years, I have enjoyed a dynamic and successful career and have attained an extensive background in IT and electronic communications by selling and marketing within the information technology marketplace.Anyone who would like to review the book and have it posted on my blog or website, please contact me paul@netiquetteiq.com.

If you have not already done so, please view the trailer for my book below. 
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