This is the answer right here. The trend of banning cellphones from health clubs began after camera phones were invented. Apparently, some clubs were having problems with people using their phones to take unwanted or inappropriate pictures of other club members. There are stories (possibly urban legends) that a few people were photographed in the locker rooms, and these pictures ended up on porn sites.
Health clubs obviously don’t want to get the reputation as being overrun with perverts, so many have decided to just not allow the use of cellphones on their premises. There are also the inconsiderate jerks who hog equipment while using their cellphones, and the people who talk loud enough that the person on the other end can probably hear them directly, so the club management might figure that forbidding cellphone usage is a good way to solve several problems at once.
I guess there’s something of a difference to me too, since I leave mine in the car. I just try not to let it distract or upset me. I tend to work out with headphones on anyway, so maybe I’d feel differently if I had to hear every phone conversation around me.
I guess I see what you mean. I can’t bring my self to judge someone who’s idea of working out is a far cry from what I consider a work out, because I don’t want to be judged the same way. Maybe it annoys someone that I wear headphones? Am I being serious enough? Am I lifting enough weight? Some folks watch the TVs on their treadmills…are they not taking their workout seriously enough? I just try to do my best to live & let live at the gym. To be fair, I’m just not there that much. I might feel differently if I was spending more time there.
My big problem is cellphones in public places is that the people talking seem to forget that they are in a public location, and hold conversations you would never dream of having face to face, in that place.
Example - I’m in a restaurant, and the guy at the next table is having a conversation about how to perform a medical procedure. This is NOT a dinner table topic. It was actually rather gross, over dinner. Yet most of the dining room was having to listen to this conversation.
If you wouldn’t have that conversation, at that volume, in person, please don’t have it over your cell phone.
Different strokes for different folks, but if I were a member of your gym, I would resent being involuntarily recruited into your “all in there together” club with its behavioural expectations.
I go to the gym because I need to improve my health by exercising regularly. I hate exercise, for two reasons: It’s painful and it’s boring. There are a million other things I’d rather be doing. So, the best way for me to get through a good workout is to trick my brain into forgetting what my body’s doing – radios, magazines, books, televisions, cell phone conversations – anything to give my mind an out. When I’ve got a good mental distraction going, I work out longer and harder than otherwise.
And, really, I have no interest in whether or not that helps you get through your workout – you do what you have to do; I’ll do what I have to do. I’m not at the gym for some kind of team building exercise. In fact, I prefer it when the place is otherwise empty. Heck, if I could afford it, I’d have my own private gym.
