Going 'Topless' at Meetings

That's 'topless' as in 'laptopless.' An article in the Los Angeles Times - yesterday, so it's probably no joke - notes the growing tendency in some offices and schools to ban laptops and other communications devices, particularly Blackberries, from face-to-face meetings or class sessions.

What makes this surprising is it's not a luddite reaction to technology - the story is about how prevalent this phenomenon has become in Silicon Valley, still regarded as the heart of high tech. Too many companies and college professors were finding that meeting/class attendees were paying more attention to their external communications than to the people in the room with them. This was not only rude, it tends to make the meetings unproductive.

Personally, I'm a little mixed. I've never used my laptop for external communication (email, surfing, social networking) while in meetings - but I do rely on it for note-taking. Like a great many other people, my handwriting is sufficiently bad that I have a hard time reading my notes, much less keeping up with note-taking by hand. The laptop has rescued me many times over, and I rely on it. So, while I can see the motivation behind the trend, I would have a hard time leaving my laptop home. But then, I'm a touch-typist, and have no problem looking at you and carrying on a conversation with you while my fingers do the note-taking...

Hat tip: IAB SmartBrief