The Many Paths To Pushing Mobile Phone Etiquette

Culture

from the from-subtle-to-beating-you-over-the-head dept

The issues of mobile phone etiquette has received plenty of attention over the years, especially as people are interrupted more frequently while out at plays, movies and other cultural events. However, different venues seem to have very different methods for dealing with the issue. While NYC has put in place a law banning the use of mobile phones at cultural events, most places seem to rely on a combination of two things: warnings against misuse of phones and angry audience members who will take matters into their own hands. Certain events are trying to incorporate the warnings more into the spirit of the event itself, and they claim that these types of “good natured” warnings do tend to reduce the misuses of mobile phones. What the article doesn’t address, however, is the difference between the accidental ringers — people who are embarrassed that they forgot to turn off their phones and the oblivious-to-the-world types who simply don’t understand why they can’t bother everyone around them.