I hate "meetings" where everyone has their head buried in a laptop. I prefer to "meet" at meetings - I can read mail or do other work just as well or better at my desk.

What bothers me even more is how many people fail to mute the volume on their laptops during meetings. There's nothing like a meeting with the constant "bling" of new mail and IM sounds. I doubt that we hire people that are incapable of turning the sound down on their laptop, but I question my hypothesis. My laptop, on the other hand, is always muted  - unless I need to listen to a voicemail or something. There's really no good reason to listen to system sounds and music from that little tinny laptop speaker, and don't understand why so many people think it's so necessary.

Is it really that hard to turn the volume down in a meeting?