I am asked to present at various internal and external forums and I get increasingly frustrated with the lack of attention from the audience who are looking at their electronic devices. Some even work on laptops with no sign of embarrassment. Maybe it is me that is the problem, but I used to get the audience’s full attention. At the risk of being seen as a dinosaur from the 1980s, should I ban all use of electronic gadgets – or accept it as part of modern-day life and hope they are listening, really?
我被邀请在公司内外的多个论坛上发表演讲,但听众只顾盯着自己的电子设备而不注意听我讲话,这让我产生了越来越强烈的挫败感。在我演讲时有些人甚至在自己的笔记本电脑上工作,而没有流露出任何尴尬的表情。也许问题出在我自己身上,但我曾经能够吸引听众的全部注意力。我是否应该禁止听众使用任何电子设备呢,虽然这可能让我看起来像是来自二十世纪八十年代的老古董?或者我应该将这种现象作为现代生活的一部分接受下来,并寄望于台下确实有听众在听我讲话?