Take Back Control of Your Signature

Device manufacturers have found a great way to brand your emails and even text messages.  I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen a note sent by a specific type of phone.  Just this morning I received an SMS telling me it was sent by a specific make of car!  Remember when people used to send messages?  I digress.

I can’t help but think of the creepy dude in the late 1980’s who had to tell you he was calling from his cellular phone (or “car phone” in those days).  Are these “new” device signatures really that different?  Sure: they’re much less personal, for whatever that’s worth.

Some people treat them as an excuse for poor spelling and grammar.  Of course any modern device will both spell check and auto-correct – and heck, if that doesn’t work, you can still resurrect those basic skills you learned in grade school to help!  So really, there’s no excuse, whether hand written, typed, or dictated.

Others may not even be aware their device is doing this.  If that’s the case, please check your settings – own your signature, don’t let vendors use it as creepy advertising every time you communicate!

Your signature is yours, not your mobile device’s nor vehicle’s.  No one is impressed that you dictated a text message into a hands free microphone – that’s par for the course these days.  What matters is the content above the signature – and yes, you should still check it before sending it.  Even if your car sends it, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t make sense or be unintentionally offensive.  If you find that difficult to do while driving, then do the unthinkable and place a voice call instead!  That’s right – most devices still support that function, thankfully.

So now you’ve taken control of your signature by opening your device settings to change it.  Excellent!  Wondering what it should be?  How about this: leave it blank.  That’s right.  Let the content speak for itself, and the sender’s name tell the recipient who it’s from.  Because guess what?  On the other end, someone is also using a mobile device or even vehicle hands free system to read your note.  And that person sure doesn’t want to hear “sent by my Dodge” at the end.  That person expects you to be sending the message, regardless of what you dictated it into.  So go ahead and own your signature, or just leave it blank.  You’ll project much less creepiness each time you send someone a message!