A number of years ago, my late husband (who was a physician) and I were guests at a special dinner for physicians and spouses. In those settings there was always someone on call and it was not unusual to have pagers and phones going off and interrupting the conversation, but most physicians would excuse themselves from the table, take the call, and come back to the festivities. However, one physician, who had just received a new mobile phone from his spouse, decided to stay at the table and check his messages and talk with his patients. Needless to say, it was incredibly rude, disruptive to the table and an invasion of the patient’s privacy. I remember feeling so sorry for the person on the other end of the line whose medical details were being shared with a table full of people who should not have been hearing any of the conversation. I also remember thinking that the physician was a jerk and seemingly wanting everyone to know how important he was.

Today, I am often reminded of that time when I am out in public and I see and hear people carry on personal conversations on their cell phones that shouldn’t be shared with the world. The message is, “look at me I am so important that I need to be in touch with the world constantly.” If your work is so important, then maybe you should stay home to take care of business. Certainly, that would have been a better choice for the physician. After all, if he was saving lives, doing it in the middle of a dinner party was inappropriate. He too, should have stayed home.