At my gym there are signs saying (more or less): “Please do not use your cell phone while working out out of respect for others who are working out.”
Now, if someone is being obnoxiously loud while talking on the cell, that is rude, I agree. But how is it inconsiderate for someone to be on the treadmill chatting with someone on their cell phones? It’s not like this is a library or anything. Does it really bother others when they have somoene else talking on their cell? I don’t chat on my phone while working out, but it doesn’t bother me at all when others do.
At some gyms the “no cellphone” rules are more about cell phone cameras and taking “invasion of privacy” style photos than about disturbing others with chatting while using the treadmill. I know I would not want someone taking pictures of my (fictious) workout. YMMV.
I wish my gym had that policy. Here’s some of the problems I’ve seen:
[ul]People sitting on weight machines having a leisurely conversation. They’re not between sets or anything. They’re just using the machine as a nice place to sit down.
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[ul]People having loud conversations. Cell phones seem to cause people to talk louder than normal. Combine that with people trying to talk over all the normal noises in the gym and you have people having very loud conversations.
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I think it’s a delayed reaction from the time when phone were scarce.
In those days nobody understood how handy they were, and heads would turn whenever one was being used.
Because they were so strange, everyone felt they had to come up with an opinion on them, and predictably some were favorable and some unfavorable, and the vast majority don’t care.
Since the favorable and don’t-care people weren’t interested in changes, the only ones heard from were those with unfavorable opinions.
But that was a couple of years ago.
Those who don’t get it are in a shrinking and aging minority.
If they were to drop the restriction today, I’d bet few would feel as secure and righteous indgnant about the “problem”. They would all know friends and family who disagree with them and love their phones.
I know we’re all individuals there, but I still like to get the mindset that we’re all in there together, sweating and working and pushing each other. Things that subtract from that ideal (fancy clothes, flirting, television, cell phones) tend to bug me.
iPods don’t because usually those people seem focussed and into their workout.
Some days I think it would be nice if everyone was just wearing grey sweats and there was no AC.
There’s still the “vanity” aspect to the cell phone too. “All of you are just working out, but I have more important things on my mind.”
All I can say is that the first person who’s blabbing away in the squat rack on a cellphone when I need to use it had better be prepared to wear it in suppository form…
Other than that, I couldn’t care less if people use them, so long as they’re not being obnoxious.
I agree that part of it is that people tend to be really loud and really oblivious while on cells. Really, it is a danger for the person if they are trying to run on the tread mill but are distracted by their phone call. Sure, we could argue that a person’s health is their own responsibility, but all it would take is one moron suing the gym for a rule to be enforced.
And, as was already said, privacy is a key issue. How do I know if a person has their phone pointed my way because they are text messaging or because they are taking photos of me? I certainly don’t look my best while I’m at the gym and I don’t exactly want that broadcast to the world. Not to mention the whole locker room, being naked thing*.
*And gentlmen, if you’d like to believe so, then: we totally sit around rubbing lotion on each other. But, when our hands are full of lotion we have to use our mouths. Yup, that’s EXACTLY what happens. You’re welcome
Well I shouldnote that there are much more explicit signs that absolutely forbid the use of camera phones in the gym, quite apart from the ones I mentioned.
And I certainlythink ayone would agree that general etiquette would mean moving away from equipment you aren’t using and keeping conversations, on a cell phone or otherwise, at normal levels.
I do agree that, that should be the general etiquette- but it ain’t.
You and I (and everyone else) knows that there will be plenty of jerks who will sit on a machine and use it as a phone booth, scream into their phone, etc.
Gyms are not libraries and in addition to their primary purpose (exercise) are also social institutions. Having said that, most conversations in a gym are floating ones. People working out with partners will talk but their conversations will float around the room as they move from one piece of equipment to another. In that respect, it’s just background noise. People on cell phones will often camp on the treadmill or bike or just on a bench and yap. If I’m doing my cardio, I can’t move over because I’ve set-up the machine and I’m focused on my workout and I don’t want to hear you gossip for the next however long. Take your call outside the gym or some more discreet place where you’re not as conspicious and your voice doesn’t carry.
I personally don’t see the big deal, but people are touchy over cell phones lately. A friend of mine thinks is incredibly rude when someone is talking on a cell phone on the trian during his commute. I don’t get it. In my gym, folks have conversations with each other all the time. What’s the difference between talking to people right there, or on the phone?
Assuming, of course, that they are not just sitting on equipment chatting.
I think that the blanket no-cell-phone policy is probably to make things easier on the staff. Whether someone is using a cell phone politely is a judgment call, which invites argument, and people bitching about uneven enforcement.
And imagine:
“Excuse me, ma’am, could you keep it down?”
“Oh, sorry.” quiets down, but eventually goes back to speaking loudly
“Ma’am, would you please lower your voice?”
“Sorry, I have a bad connection. I’ll just be a minute.” continues yakking for five minutes
“Ma’am, please, would you either be more quiet, or hang up?”
“Just a second, I’m almost done.” continues blabbing loudly
“Ma’am, PLEASE!”
“There’s no need for you to be RUDE! I’m just trying to have a conversation here!”
vs.
points to sign “Excuse me, ma’am, but cell phones aren’t allowed on the floor. Please go to the lobby if you need to make a call.”
I don’t know why there’s a difference, but there is. At least to me. Clearly to some people there isn’t a difference.
Maybe it goes back to what I was saying earlier. . .in a gym, I prefer a certain atmosphere. When people are there to work out and sweat, it creates a working atmosphere. Of course people are going to see each other and have conversations. That’s what people do.
But, when you’re on your phone. . .it’s like you don’t want to be there. It’s like you’re there just for show. Even though you’re phoning out, it’s like you’re phoning it in. (pause for laughter)
Is a guy talking on a phone as bad as if there was a clown tying balloon animals, or having kids running around? Of course not, but it is a distraction to me.
If I ran a gym, that’s why I’d ban them. I don’t know why other gym owners ban them, but I like it. Actually, I suspect that it’s the fact that some people – not everybody – tune out when they’re on their phone. They get into a conversation and they don’t realize they’re tying up a machine. I think, as Podkayne said, it takes the judgement call out of the hands of some minimum-wage gym monitor.
I see a lot of the same people day in and day out at the gym. Cell phones bug the shit out of me on cardio machines because you see these people hogging an elliptical (the highly coveted cardio machine) going at a speed of like, 60 rpm while they chat and chat and chat. These are the same people who, when they’re not on their cell phone, go at least 120 rpm if not higher. DAMMIT that pisses me off.
People talking on cell phones on the cardio machines bother me. Probably because they do it more than the lifting folks. To be honest, I think it’s any talking on the cardio equipment. A few weeks ago there were three women/girls behind me on eliptical machines just talking. When I say talking I mean making noise with their mouth for self amusement. Just nonsence rambling.
I went this morning before work, and there was quite attractive woman on an elliptical who spent pretty much the whole time talking on her cell phone. As she was leaving, I noticed some guy said something to the effect of “Hey, you’re not on your phone today!” giving the impression that she used most of her time at the gym on the phone everyday.
I leave mine in the truck. Nothing is so important it can’t wait 45 minutes.
Cell phones at the gym don’t bother me one bit. I leave mine at home, since my gym time is my time and I don’t want to be bothered. But one of my friends is a realtor, and he needs to be reached at all times. When he takes his calls, he walks to a corner and keeps his voice down.
People who are going to act like pricks would act like pricks even if cell phones didn’t exist.
Nope, my gym just added the policy (within the past few months) for the reasons listed by Cub Mistress.
And just because they’re no longer scarce does not make them no longer annoying.
OMG! I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing in my club in Chelsea about six hours ago! There’s six elliptical machines and one or two are always out of commission (one today) and you have to sign up when you walk in, usually 1-2 hours in advance, for a half-hour slot.
There was this guy who was not only on the phone but kept making new calls as I sawed away next to him. He didn’t even use the handles, just pedalled about as quickly as a four-year-old on a bike with training wheels in Central Park–going uphill. At least the weight room is in a lower level in which most phones don’t work; however, those who are cell addicts have the latest phones that could make themselves heard from the International Space Station, and I got to hear a dude, resting for 15 minutes on a weight bench, learn from his agent about a film he was up for. Kewl, dude! Take it the hell outside!
Don’t get me started on the people who spend more time adjusting their IPods then working out, or the girls who wear giant earrings around the weights, or lying down on a mat, having to hold their heads in the weirdest positions as they try to stretch…
