Boss told me to get off my personal phone in a meeting

the very fact that it is easy to use one's own phone means one shouldn't
i dislike people taking easy option

except in emergency

There’s surely always going to be the slightest possibility that something disasterous has occurred? & needs only a few secs to assess…
Onetwobuckeroo, were you the only female (easiest target) in the room for him to make an example of?

Really unprofessional. I don’t take my phone to meetings.

This attitude that people in offices are special and can be treated like adults who simply must be allowed to check their phone every 5 seconds in case the school has decided texting them that Little Jimmy has just lost his leg in a freak hurdles accident is the best way to contact them might just explain why customer service from said offices is getting so poor....

I work in media and communication and often receive urgent texts or messages. Nonetheless I have to manage how I read messages and multi task in these meetings because checking the phone comes off as disrespectful. People know I am juggling and busy but it really isn’t in my interest to look distracted.

@WorkItUpYourBangle :
This is just a job they don't own you or your direct attention for extended periods of time.

This is hilarious!
It's a job that pays for hers and her children's livelihoods.
Of course her attention is required at work, and especially in a meeting.

If it's just a job, OP can find a different one that allows lack of attention and free will of phone usage in meetings.

Nice to have an OP who takes comments on board, self reflects and accepts the consensus.

Very rare on here as most want to be right for the sake of it.
The very people who complain about the demise of social decline whilst inevitably contributing to it.

"I do my job, deliver and go above and beyond"

Sound's to me like you think that gives you special privileges. It doesn't.

Sometimes the school might message if they have called and your not picking your phone
I think OP is right as this is not strange if you have kids
I constantly check my phone at work

What text would be an emergency? If your kids were rushed into hospital, the school would not be texting you. My phone stays in my bag at work, and I check it in my break - I’m at work!! And mentioning that your boss does not have kids just sounds snide.

It infuriates me when people answer their phones etc. during meetings, so my sympathies lie with your boss.

But, if everyone’s been doing it then he was BU pulling just you up like that in front of everyone. He should have made a general announcement that he is not happy with lack of attention in meetings and that people need to stop using their phones and computers for non-meeting related tasks during a meeting. Then he could reasonably pull up the next person who did it.

Im on your side. This is just a job they don't own you or your direct attention for extended periods of time. Your kids come first always.

Ok, perhaps you shouldn’t have been on your phone unless it was an emergency. And yes your boss has the right to bring it up. To do it publicly, to humiliate you, is unprofessional. The boss should have spoken to you separately about it. It’s poor management on his part to behave that way. If other members of the team are distracted he needs to reconsider the meetings. It’s quite simple at the beginning of a meeting to say, can all personal devices please be put away during the meeting to avoid distractions. Hopefully it would wrap the meeting up more quickly too! You’re not being unreasonable.

Yes, I might have done the same. Except that if I was called out for it I would accept it was due criticism, and apologise.

Loads of them, too many, people are terminally online, but it’s the culture of the place and the fact they give us phones. Doesn’t seem like the OP works in that environment?

I've pulled up my reports for being on their phones or even their work laptops in meetings. The worst time was a report of mine typing away a response to a Teams message whilst on a 1:1 with me - clearly not listening. Any leadership course will start by telling you to pay attention to people and put your phone in your pocket.

For the record, I also have kids and I do take my phone to meetings in case of an emergency phone call from school or doctors but messages are not urgent enough.

Didn’t you say ‘I’m sorry, I do need to take this’ and step out.

We request everyone in the meeting to turn off their phones. If there is someone expecting a call from the doctor or similar they give the heads up.

A text from the school is never urgent. Usually some crap about wearing a stripy shirt for a quid.

a phone call from the school in the middle of the day is almost certainly a sick kid

He should not have called you out in front of everyone. That is bullying. He should have spoken To you after the meeting and said that your behaviour was unacceptable. As for making an example of you - that is bullying too. He should just reminded everyone to turn their phones off during meetings.

Do you need to be told you are totally unprofessional ?

be honest people:

How many of you saying that the OP was rude (and especially those saying you should excuse yourself from the meeting to check messages) have actually been in a work meeting in the past 5 years?

these comments are so far removed from anything I have ever experienced the mind boggles.

Most of you sound like you work in Gulags🤣I feel sorry for you

So rude to be checking your phone in a work meeting like that. Different if you’re expecting a call and let them know.

Maybe the rule should be no phones allowed when in a meeting. It's definitely very unprofessional and to start reading the message was also rude. I'd apologise and hope your boss accepts your apology and dosnt give you a written warning.