# It irritates me when people hold their phones like a Star Trek communicator **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [January 30, 2024, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862 "2024-01-30T12:39:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/41 "2024-01-30T20:19:32Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > They were raised by wolves. The Committee for Fair treatment of Canis Lupus wishes you to stop insulting wolves in this way. đŸ€Ș ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/42 "2024-01-30T20:55:17Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > They are on speaker phone. > They were raised by wolves. Yup, though my wife was raised in a nice loving two legged family. When I call her, and it’s on speaker, I only hear about half of what is said. My wife is visiting her mom. She just got moved to ICU. I have to always be careful to not say something someone else will hear and is inappropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/43 "2024-01-31T01:32:54Z")
I do it sometimes 'cause although my hearing aids connect to my phone via Bluetooth, they do so only for the incoming audio, not my outgoing voice. Holding the phone as described in the OP ensures the microphone picks up what I say. I don’t really like holding the phone this way so usually I take the call “normally” and listen to the earpiece like anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/44 "2024-01-31T01:48:56Z")
BTW, if you don’t like to see people using their phones like TOS communicators, there is always TNG. > **[Star Trek The Next Generation Bluetooth Communicator Badge, TNG ComBadge, Delta](https://www.fametek.com/products/star-trek-bluetooth-communicator)** > > Star Trek The Next Generation TNG ComBadge officially licensed Bluetooth Communicator Badge with Zinc plated Star Trek Delta symbol. With microphone, speakers, rechargeable battery and classic "Chirp" sound effect. Next-generation Star Trek... ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/45 "2024-01-31T03:55:17Z")
Of all of the ill-conceived ‘innovations’ of the _Star Trek_ franchise, the “combadge” is among the worst. It’s a self-answering radio which allows anyone to interrupt you at any time, has no voicemail or texting function (not that denizens of the _Star Trek_ universe spend much time writing, and it is likely most are at best marginally literate and are only pretending to ‘read’), and has no security features whatsoever, allowing anyone to tap and speak without authentication. It does have one nice feature in that, like the cell phones in _The X-Files_, it works flawlessly until the plot requires it not to, and never runs out of power. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/46 "2024-01-31T03:57:43Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > not that denizens of the _Star Trek_ universe spend much time writing, and it is likely most are at best marginally literate and are only pretending to ‘read’) We are binging ToS, and Kirk spends a lot of time reading and signing various things passed to him- things that were clearly written. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/47 "2024-01-31T04:04:50Z")
I’m going with a Maxwell Smart phone. Has smart right in the name. I’ll be fine, til I step in gum. Or dog poo. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/48 "2024-01-31T04:07:51Z")
Well, he looks at them. We never see the documents, or know of they are just more than a series of pictograms or Orion slave girl porn. Certainly by the 24th century the technology has advanced that the ship’s computer can run all essential functions and perform complex analyses with minimal and often confusing input but for some reason requires the ‘organic units’ to climb around in “Jeffries Tubes” in its interior. For all we know, the actions of the crew are a kind of cargo cult behavior inculcated by the machine intelligences that run the Federation just to make the people feel as if they are doing something useful, and their ‘adventures’ are just manufactured larping scenarios to give some sense of meaning and challenge to their otherwise pointless existence. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/49 "2024-01-31T04:19:44Z")
P’shaw. They ain’t Borgs or something. ---
**Author:** ![sjankis630](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@sjankis630](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjankis630)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/50 "2024-01-31T06:24:15Z")
Munch, clean out the top speaker grill with a firm q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol and carefully brush it back and forth. This was done on my iphone 11 pro max and it fixed the clogged speaker problem. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/51 "2024-01-31T20:46:49Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > They are on speaker phone. > They were raised by wolves. Yes! I once saw a woman screaming at a cell phone being held by another woman on a Kroger parking lot. My boss puts it on speaker, lays it on his desk and screams into it. I can hear it with an office in between us. We are not in cubicles. Thank you, Jesus! ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2024, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/52 "2024-02-01T03:21:56Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#): > > I had to FaceTime her and show her the blankets so she could pick one. > > I won’t deny that I was a bit mortified. FWIW, I call that a totally acceptable example of public use of a smartphone. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2024, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/53 "2024-02-01T04:29:13Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I guess it depends on the phone. Mine is around 6.5 inches from top to bottom, putting the microphone around an inch below my mouth when the speaker is against my ear. If anything it is bigger than the distance on an old landline. I do think this is a big part of it. While edge-to-edge screens mitigated it a bit, the increase in using your phone to do everything and the phones becoming more phablets than anything else sometimes means they’re difficult to hold in the first place, and getting placement next to your head may be a touch difficult. Second, and speaking here as a person who used to do tech support for cell phones, the number of people who DON’T clean them resulting in god knows how much lint stuck in the mics, the speakers and charging port was always astronomical. I lost track out of the number of times I “fixed” a non-charging phone by telling the customer to go in there with a floss pick or other non-metallic probe and really _dig_ that crap out. And I never dared check the logs (would need a supervisor to do that) of all the ‘broken’ phones that were replaced under warranty that likely had the same or similar issues. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2024, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862/54 "2024-02-01T21:47:50Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > FWIW, I call that a totally acceptable example of public use of a smartphone. I guess, but a middle aged man wandering around Nordstrom Rack while directed by his Millennial niece on the other end still felt cringeworthy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-irritates-me-when-people-hold-their-phones-like-a-star-trek-communicator/996862.md?page=2)