More On Mobile Phone Etiquette
from the how-hard-is-it-to-put-the-phone-on-vibrate? dept
I’ve been saying it for years, but I still just can’t understand why everyone doesn’t put their mobile phones on vibrate. Problems with mobile phones ringing and their owners talking in places where quiet is expected seems to be a growing issue. It certainly makes people angry, and there’s an example in the article of someone who got stabbed over the issue of talking on a phone while in the movies. The scary thing is that many people (including myself) assumed that as people became familiar with mobile phone etiquette, these practices would become less prevalent. They were, we assumed, the actions of “mobile phone newbies” who hadn’t learned to control the “ring-answer-talk” behavior taught to them through years of landline use. However, it’s beginning to look like the reverse is happening. As more people see others freely chatting away where they shouldn’t, it’s becoming more socially acceptable to annoy everyone around you with your mobile phone conversation. While many people still have a problem when others do it, they seem to forget all about their anger when it’s their own phone that’s ringing. Hopefully, that’s not the case – but with the rise of people paying to have the most annoying ringtone around, I imagine we shouldn’t expect things to get any quieter any time soon.
Comments on “More On Mobile Phone Etiquette”
What's worse than a cellphone in a crowded restaur
One of those damn Nextel walkie-talkie phones in a crowded restaurant.
Is it really necessary to have your phone make that annoying doodle-doot sound every 10-20 seconds during a conversation?
Not a big problem....
If someone is involving me in their conversation, then I just get involved… “What did they say now? Say hi for me! Hey, do they have any food over there? Say hi for me again!” Works wonders…. 😉
jd
Obnoxious Cell-phone Users
I tend to agree with the article, people are getting a lot more “rude” when using a phone, and some are even so obnoxious that the have started fights with myself and others when we point out that Church, the Movie Theater, Restaurants, and Libraries aren’t good places to have your phone ringing on the highest setting and then proceed to carry on a conversation at 3 decibles above normal conversation. Unfortunately, the phone companies aren’t much help, since Nextel is actually airing commercials where a potential boss and client carry a hiring negotiation, in a public restaurant, over their mobile phones.
I cannot stand the sound of a ringing cell phone, it sounds so electronic, hollow, and impersonal, and I have my cell phone either on vibrate (almost always,) or vibrate with a single, quiet beep (because there are times I cannot feel the vibration of the phone.) However, I am slowly getting used to the cell phone ring, and have been able to ignore it lately.
And I personally feel unconfortable talking over a landline phone, when interrupting someone to pick it up, so answering a cell phone is equally unlikely (and since Caller-ID is common on a cell phone, I can always call back later…)
But I don’t mind other people talking on the phone around me, and love listening in to conversations, after all, you do tend to get really valuable social engineering-type information from listening (such as passwords, driver’s license information, birthdays, etc.) And like others, I sometimes take the time to critique someone’s cell phone conversation, or offer advice to them to relay to the other end of the call (“I don’t know you or Carol, the person you are talking to, but I couldn’t help but hear your conversation since you were yelling into your phone, but I think you should tell Carol that she should dump that looser boyfriend of hers. I am available, if she is looking for a real man.”)
Of course, what we do to folks talking on cell phones while at the Renaissance Faire should probably be illegal, but it is fun. After all, if you are visiting a Faire which is circa 1600-1800’s, you have to realize that they tended to burn people who talked to themselves or carried on conversations with the air, at the stake as witches.
Re: Obnoxious Cell-phone Users
…and then proceed to carry on a conversation at 3 decibles above normal conversation
The word is decibel, named after the inventor of the telephone, not decible.
Re: Re: Pedantry
Twice in this thread the word “myself” has been used. The word you people are looking for is “me”. There is a vile tendency amongst illiterates to use “myself” incorrectly, first because people somehow think that it sounds fancier (like saying methodology instead of method) and second because people don’t know the difference between subject and object so are uncomfortable about the choice between “I” and “me”. So, Mike at least, think before you use myself
Re: Re: Re: Pedantry
Dear Mr. Pedant,
The proper use of punctuation and quotations is to put the punctuation inside the quotations. Thus, your second sentence should have ended: “me.” instead of “me”.
Pot, meet Mr. Kettle…
Does anyone care? Not one bit.
Re: Re: Re: Pedantry
Speaking for myself… I think you need a hobby.
If you want to point out typos, please do, but there’s no reason to be obnoxious about it.
Simple grammatical errors don’t make people look “illiterate”. They make people look like they made a mistake (sometimes a common one).
So, I apologize that the site doesn’t meet your grammatical standards, but there’s are some choices: (a) in a polite manner, point out typos and I will fix them. (b) go somewhere else (c) look like an asshole while showing off how superior you are.
Which one did you pick? Was that smart?