Text Etiquette On Today — Or, How I Survived 5 Minutes Without My iPhone

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I've become quite the mouthpiece on digital etiquette lately — specifically the rights and wrongs of messaging when you are with people. It's all tied to Wired magazine's August issue dedicated to the subject, and I am standing in for Brad Pitt, as usual.

In a recent appearance on CNBC's Power Lunch I argued that there was no sensible rationale for regulating texting from the boardroom. Not too much controversy there. But an impending hit on the Today show about texting from every place other than the boardroom spurred a good-natured mini intervention at home, where I was reminded that I'm addicted to love for my iPhone.

Yes, my name is John A., and I use my iPhone all the time. And, I am not alone, I do not think: With every new mobile means of communication comes a new opportunity to shut out people in the world that's right around us and engage in some sort of conversation with others who are not.

Some of this is business, of course, and some of it social. Some, perhaps most, is in that in-between world of burnishing the personal brand that has become absolutely essential to networking.

If that sounds a little too much like "my fans expect it," it is.

Continue reading on Epicenter

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