It's a divisive move from a united government, to ban BlackBerrys and mobiles from meetings. Up and down the land, people will look at the Prime Minister's example and wonder what might happen if similar rules were introduced in their offices and workplaces.
Nick Clegg on the phoneMake it quick, there's another meeting
On the one hand will be the Digi-cons. Quite right, Mr Cameron, they will say. You cannot have meetings - let alone meetings of people charged with the security and well-being of the nation - interrupted by texting and tweeting, e-mailing and Googling, thumbs cantering across sleek devices, half a dozen terse and fragmentary SMS conversations going on at once.
You need focus. Discipline. Concentrated attention.
The way people use their phones has taken rudeness to new heights. Does anyone shake open a newspaper during business meetings and start to read? No they don't. So how come it is acceptable to check your e-mails several times? Or worse - to receive a call, and, with that carefully practised apologetic look, point to the door and move nimbly towards it bearing the buzzing gadget aloft. Surely, meetings would be so much more efficient without them.
But on the other side will be the Digi-libs. It is true that people sometimes use their phones insensitively, but the 21st Century way is the way of the multi-tasker. We like our 24-hour rolling news, our always-on connections. One of the many blessings of being surrounded by technology is to be able to do several things at once - to arrange for the children to be picked up from school by text message one minute while switching back to make the killer contribution in a meeting the next. If something happens, it is reassuring to know someone can get hold of us. And how many of us, during some interminable session or other, have been secretly grateful for the distraction and light relief made possible by smart phones?
Fabio Capello on his first day as England manager
Capello's rules include no phones at mealtimes
Perhaps, after many years in which technology seems to have intruded into more of our everyday interactions, Mr Cameron's decision is a sign that the tide is beginning to turn. Is it time to zone off more areas of life from the yabbering and the bleeping?
When Fabio Capello became manager of the England football squad, banning players from using their mobile phones during mealtimes was one of several golden rules in his disciplinary code. While not a meeting as such, he regards mealtimes as important bonding time.
No out-of-hours calls
One of the great social effects of technology is the blurring of the divide between work and the rest of life. As we answer e-mails in the evening and make work calls at weekends, it is much less clear than it once was where work stops and life begins. But strangely we have never seriously objected to the change. If meetings are to be protected from electronic distractions, a case can be made that other parts of life are just as sacrosanct.
David Cameron checks his phoneJust... checking...
However, in the spirit of contemporary coalitions, both sides may agree on what represents the most striking disappointment of the communications revolution: far from reducing the need for meetings, it seems to have increased them.
Once upon a time it was said that advancing technology held out the promise of saving many hours of time through avoiding unnecessary meetings. Instead, new communications channels have supplemented the good old face-to-face method, but never replaced it - in fact, merely whetted the appetite for meeting in person. The possibility of more work and less talk has come to be replaced by talk is the new work.
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