You’ve Been Screened
| August 29th, 2008 by Robert | Word Count: 742 | Reading Time 3:01 | 1,767 views |
Do you screen your phone calls? How about email? Do you even screen the knocks on your door? Sure, if you’re reading this and you’re not 5 years old, I will bet money that you have chosen to screen someone in each and every one of the above situations. There are untold instances where we can choose to screen our attention from other people trying to reach us. Here’s another one for you which I’m sure you’ve done (I have). You’re in a store, you spot someone you know but you’re not in the mood to talk at the moment, so you take a lengthy detour around the aisles so that you “miss” a potential meet and greet… all the while hoping they didn’t spot you first! Sounds familiar doesn’t it? We’ve all done it, but it’s nothing to be proud of.
Why do we screen people from our lives? Are we doing it to save time? Do we just dislike the people we are screening? Is what we are doing at the moment the phone rings so utterly important that we can’t answer it? By the way, being in the bathroom is an acceptable reason to not answer the phone… What it really comes down to is that we pick and choose when and if we want to speak to someone, anyone, even close personal friends or relatives. We can sit safely back and relax with the knowledge that the person we are screening doesn’t have important news or an emergency to tell us about. They’ll call back, leave a message, run us down, or scream and knock on our windows if we don’t answer the door. Eventually, if the situation is dire enough, they will get noticed and we will be forced to enter into a conversation.
Great, now that we know it is “acceptable” to screen people, how do you feel when you’re the one being screened? Not great I would imagine. Don’t tell me you’ve never been screened either, we all have, by most everyone in our lives. Our relatives do it, our co-workers do it, and even our supervisors do it. Some of these people even use screening people as a show of power over those they are screening. Yes, I know, it’s sad that some people depend on such inane things to derive power from. Their time is “so” important that they just cannot be bothered with a mundane conversation (at least in their mind).
Oh but wait, if you think it’s a two way street, you are far from correct. The “power” screeners must NEVER be screened themselves. Their phone call, email, appearance, etc MUST be answered and immediately at that. Let the phone ring more than once? Yeah right. Leave the email in your inbox for more than 5 minutes? They know you have it set to check every 1 minute so you waited 4 more times before answering? Expect to receive a phone call at the 4 minute mark from one of those power screeners by the way. The appearance screeners are the best. You NEVER show up to their house or office unannounced. You must make an appointment or schedule your appearance. However, they have the “power” to show up at will whenever they like, wherever they like. It’s your job to be ready to accommodate them. Just make sure you put everything you were doing on hold or they may feel slighted or put off.
Are you a power screener? Does it make you feel important knowing that someone is waiting on pins and needles for your supreme response to their attempt at contact? If so, remember, there is always a do not answer button on the phone, a delete button on email, an empty aisle in the store, and backdoor to leave from. If you begin to screen people for no other reason than to increase your perceived self importance, you will become the one screened. It’s just as easy (probably more so) for me to screen you as it is for you to screen me. I know you’re not going to stop just because you read my article, but I hope the next time you begin to screen someone trying to reach you, think at least twice about it, you might even reconsider picking up that phone or replying to that email or talking to that person at the store. That is unless I spot you first…
on August 30th, 2008 at 6:07 pm:
I think that everyone including children screen people they talk to or see. Has anyone seen their boss headed their way and ducked into a side door or around a corner? Probably so, I know that I have. Sometimes this can be a good thing, some time to cool off or to rethink the situation, sometimes this can cool things down some.
Flipping through the T.V. channels is another way of screening. Sometimes this can be very irritating to the other person trying to watch television. But everyone does this,young and old. My Dad had one of the first remotes in our neighborhood,he called it Johnnie or Robert or whoever was closest to the television. I had my own personal remotes also, their names were Diana and Bobby. Bobby got so used to the channels changing that if it stopped on one channel, he thought that the T.V. was broken!!!!
Yes everyone screens in one way or another,young or old,rich or poor.
on August 30th, 2008 at 6:21 pm:
Yes, I believe it comes down to human nature. We are all born with the ability and willingness to screen people. Sometimes screening crosses the border and becomes ignoring and possibly even total avoidance. Sometimes as you have said, screening people is necessary. But, if people screen others to derive a sense of power or control from the situation, it’s usually not a good thing.
I’m pretty sure screening television channels has become a form of art. With so many channels on television, we are always left wondering if there is something else on. So, we begin our infinite search to find something good to watch. Which in reality, there isn’t anything good to watch, we just never realize that.