I agree with those who say that cell phone etiquette should be essentially the same as that for face-to-face conversations. Unacceptable in church, the movie theater, while dining (it’s generally considered acceptable to converse only with your dining companion; if a friend stopped by the table to say hello, you would talk for perhaps a few seconds and no more). Acceptable in other public places, such as the shopping mall and subway, provided it is at a volume that doesn’t disturb others and you are not standing in the middle of an aisle obstructing others’ way. I think people who get offended simply by seeing someone talking on a cell phone need to CHILL OUT.
Does your CPR card allow you to act obnoxious as well? Kudos on knowing CPR, but rubbing it in like your superior is a little OTT. A cell phone is good in an emergency. not as good as knowing CPR, but good none the less.
Neptune, a radio jammer does not block out landlines, which still exist. and they are just as useful as a cellphone in an emergency providing that they are available.
Plus I love these places that will put up a Low Level Radio Jammer, but Complain if a Mobile phone tower is put up in their vacinity.
If people don’t know how to turn their phone onto “silent” then they shouldnt have a phone.
Nope, but I have another card that does…had that one long before I learned CPR too.
I’d prefer for the general public to be given permission to snatch the phone and stomp the life out of it, but that’s probably OTT also.
The origin behind the shopping gripe is due to (I think) a certain subset of the population consisting of people who lose all mental capacity and common sense while talking on the cell phone.
Most people–myself included :D–can talk on the cell phone while shopping in an unobtrusive manner. Others stop wherever the fuck they’re standing and start yakking, oblivious to the world around them. They’ll stand with their carts blocking the aisle, they’ll obstruct doorways–they lose all awareness of their surroundings. Occaisionally, they’ll start SCREAMING into the cell phone, having an argument that would best be left for more private times. It’s really, really annoying. Doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be used, though–some people just need to wake the fuck up.
A similar annoyance for me, incidentally, is people who insist on calling cell phones for no good reason. My mom carries a cell phone, and she keeps it on while she’s at the store or what-not, just in case something happens with my grandma, or someone remembers that we’re out of ketchup or something. My dad, however, doesn’t grasp the purpose of a cell phone. He’ll call just to ask “where are you?” when he knows damn well that my mom’s at the grocery store. He also gets annoyed that my cell phone is NEVER on at school…I told him to leave a message on my campus voice mail if it’s urgent, because my cell phone is never on, and I only even carry it when I’m on a trip.
This may be our silent salvation.
I just read this article about a phone that reads muscle movements in the jaw and mouth and translates it into sound.
Meaning that you can talk on the phone and just mouth the words. Add a subdermal transducer to receive the sound and you have a silent cell phone call.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/03/27/docomo.muscle.idg/index.html
“I just read this article about a phone that reads muscle movements in the jaw and mouth and translates it into sound.
Meaning . . . you have a silent cell phone call.”
—Yeah, except you know damn well no one will USE this. Even if they BOUGHT one of those “silent” phones, they will still bellow in Ethel Merman tones about how I’M ON THE TRAIN, WHAT DO YOU WANNA DO T’NIGHT? GIVE SHEILA A CALL OR SEE WHAT’S ON TV OR . . .
I, too, hate people who are overly loud with their cellphones. These days, if I hear a voice originating from anywhere except where I hapen to be looking, I can never be sure that I’m the one being addressed or a phone.
BTW: here’s a relevant Dilbert link.
Well, in an attempt to lighten the mood I present a story for all and sundry. This story isn’t directly applicable to the ongoing discussion but I think you’ll agree it’s close enough.
Our story concerns a 17-year old Jonathan Chance, a Washington DC bus, and a little old lady and how they managed to communicate despite the hustle and bustle of modern life.
Flash back to 1984 or so. Young JC was riding the T4 bus north from Grosvenor in Rockville, MD heading for his ‘school for young men and women that Montgomery County thought deserved keeping an eye upon more than usual’. Young JC took the bus every weekday to and from said school. His constant companion? A Sony Walkmen with amplifying speakers. Loud as the sins he could imagine but hadn’t the nerve to try.
Young JC was listening (he can recall it perfectly) to Quiet Riot’s Metal Health on cassette that particular morning. Not-so-quietly destroying his eardrums to the tune of Cum On Feel the Noize (he still likes the Slade version better) and Slick Black Cadillac while thinking what a shame it was that Randy Rhodes died in that plane crash.
Suddenly, a shot rang out!
OK, really, it was a purse. A big black one. And it didn’t ring out. It bonked me on the head. Hard. “YOW!”, says our young anti-hero.
Young JC turns and is confronted by a little old lady who looks like nothing more than the sweetest thing in the world. Except that her face is twisted with rage and she’s shouting loud enough to be heard over my headphones, “Young man, turn that down! It’s rude!”
Imagine my shock. Checking himself for blood Young JC decides that discretion is the better part of continued not-getting-beaten-by-little-old-ladies, turns the Walkman down and departs at the next stop. Not the stop he wanted, mind you, just the next one. He completed his trip to school on the next bus.
That day at school Young JC shared this experience with his therapist who expressed not quite the level of sympathy that Young JC had been expecting. A lesson learned.
And what good would a story be without an epilogue…
Within the next few weeks Young JC saw the little old lady on the same bus several times. Each time she would nod hello and hold up her purse. Cowed into submission (and perhaps some added compassion) Young JC kept it down from that point on.
Voila!
JC, that lady may have helped you more than you realize. I got my first Walkman-style (it was a GE product) radio and headphones when I was 15 and liked to have it turned up to the max. I liked to have the radio in my bedroom up high, too. My penchant for loud music may be responsible for a bit of hearing loss in both ears.
I now have an actual Walkman; one time I was on a bus and there was a small group of mentally handicapped people in the back who were being quite loud. I turned up my Walkman in an attempt to drown them out. Who do you suppose the driver complained at for being too noisy? Yeah, that’s right, me!
You lucky people who can actually use Walkmen - I can’t use them because I sing about as much as I breathe. I do it automatically, it sounds terrible, and I can’t stop myself. So, no Walkmen for me. On the plus side, my hearing is great.
Actually, landlines would be more useful in an emergency than cellular phones. 911 can trace any landline number to the location that the call takes place from; if the call gets cut off or a person is incoherent, this could be invaluable in saving a life. Cellular phones have no such information attached to them (well, yet…apparently they wish to put chips into new phones to make them more easily tracked, but that’s a Pit/GD thread all unto itself), not to mention the possibility of a dropped call.
Kinda on topic, from plans I got off the net I once built a small FM transmitter, would transmit for about 100 feet or so. With a little work I tuned it to a popular (although crappy) radio station in my area. A family member of mine loved this station, but she was puzzled when suddenly perfectly good reception would turn into static. And it was funny watching people singing along to a song in another car suddenly look around in confusion when I switch on the little thing. Ah that was fun…