Etiquette Expert Talks Cell Phones, Manners

PITTSBURGH (NewsRadio 1020 KDKA) - Have you ever been annoyed by people talking loudly on a cell phone? What about someone texting while in line at the grocery store? Tired of people having bad manners and dressing inappropriately? The Etiquette Network may be what you're looking for.

Founded in Pittsburgh, The Etiquette Network helps individuals, organizations, and businesses get back to proper manners, and showing how the benefits of better etiquette will result in success.

KDKA-AM's Larry Richert talks to The Etiquette Network's founder, Jacquelyn Flesner, about cell phone use and how rude people have become. Flesner says that while it seems that the younger generation is more rude, it is the parents who are setting the example.

"We see busy dad's with their cell phone out at the dinner table, or in the middle of a conversation, a text comes in and they immediately walk away to answer the text," says Flesner. "They're picking that up somewhere."

Thanks to phones, Flesner says there are younger people are aren't developing the art of conversation, and hide behind texts and e-mails to compensate. Others use texts to send inappropriate messages that they normally wouldn't say or do in face-to-face interactions.

Another downfall to using phones to communicate is something Flesner calls "lack of affect." This is when someone reaches out to you from a verbal standpoint, and your response is that you do not interact or act unaffected.

All of this ineffective communication is causing loss of productivity and the breakdown of traditional conversations.

Hear more from Jacquelyn Flesner's conversation by listening to the podcast, and listen to The KDKA Morning News weekdays 5-9 a.m.