Personally, I’m rarely offended by someone using their cellphone. There are however, situations where I would be annoyed if someone was using their cell phone…
While driving. Yes, sometimes you need to make a quick phonecall or answer one, but there’s no reason to be on the cellphone while in your car for any longer than 30-120 seconds. Get to the point and get off the phone to minimize danger to yourself and those around you.
While on a date. Similar to above, sometimes you might need to take a call if it’s important, but this should be kept to a minimum. I would be extremely annoyed if I was on a date and the woman I was with was gabbing on the phone all night.
While there is someone else that requires your attention. If you know you’re going to have to converse with someone else, get off the phone and call the person back.
Yelling into the phone while in a crowded, otherwise reasonably quiet area. You don’t need to yell. The person can probably hear you. If not, buy a new phone, yours sucks.
Otherwise, there’s nothing wrong with using your cell phone in public. Just don’t let it interfere with interactions with other people and be courteous about your noise level. And most importantly, don’t use the phone while driving unless you absolutely HAVE to. Even then, keep your conversations short.
Others who get offended by it when it really doesn’t have an affect on you other than the fact that you subconciously need to find something to whine about… please lighten up.
Oh - and the doctors office thing - I don’t know… sometimes there is sensitive equipment that can be interfered with by cell phones. This is something you would see in pretty much any hospital. Not sure about your doctor’s office though. I wouldn’t see any harm in having a short, quiet conversation in the waiting room if there are no safety concerns.
I used to know a person talking loudly to nobody was someone to avoid, because they were mentally unstable. Now I can’t tell until I’m to close for safety.
I’m getting damn pissed with the whole thing of certain people in our group that take calls during our meal in a restaurant.
Everybody is expected to stop talking for the stupid person on the phone, and whatever our group is doing has the fun killed during the wait.
Pay attention to the check out, driving, or what ever else you are doing and talk when you’re done.
This is why I hate cell phone use in public. People let manners slip until they are doing all of these things.
I agree. I’m not offended when people use their phone seemlessly. As in, they are talking in reasonable tones and interacting with the environment and people around them. In that case, it’s no different than if they were talking to someone standing right next to them. If however, they can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, so that using a phone prevents them from accomplishing basic tasks (like crossing the street without getting hit by a streetcar), or functioning in their environment, they need to hang up.
I don’t like being with a friend, either in the car, or just chilling somewhere, and them being on their cell phones. It’s the whole feeling of being left out of the conversation and the lonely feeling you get when they are on the phone. It’s that same feeling I get if someone whispers something into another persons ear while they are around me, should it only be 3 of us. What’s worse is when they look at you while they are whispering…
The biggest issue I’d say is people lack of public courtesy. I mean fuck, just because everyone around you isn’t your best friend it doesn’t mean you have to be a complete ass hole.
Come to think of it, my buddy did this the other day (who is part asshole)… We were all tailgating at a football game and he was in a discussion on the phone. Then radically, it turns into him yelling at the top of his lungs… fuck you, I’m gonna this, I’m gonna that, you better this… etc… People just looked at him like wtf? If it were a face to face thing people would be all up in it, but there is nothing you can do when someone is on the phone. I’m not going to snatch the phone because he is being too loud. I just don’t understand why people gotta yell… the output on the other end isn’t going to change much.
This is a big part of it for me. The number of people in the world who seem to think that a ringing phone is the equivalent of a ticking bomb has increased astronomically with the widespread use of cell phones. It’s just a phone call, idiot. If it’s important, they’ll leave a message. If you don’t have voice mail, they’ll try to call back again and again and again. Deal with the real people around you.
There is a general douchbagginess about useing your cell phone in public. Doubly so with the Bluetooth headset. It’s kind of like, what is so damn important that you need to be on the phone right now? God forbid you take time away from your Blackberry to deal with the people who are actually spending time with you.
A group from work went out to one of the nicest places we have here for a going-away dinner for our big boss. I was floored when one of us answered the phone during dinner, to talk to his kids about feeding the dog or somesuch. Unbelievable. I was stunned–you had to be there but it was so jarring when everything else was so classy.
What msmith537 said. I don’t really care if someone is using a cell phone for an emergency in public, but it seems so self-important to do so otherwise. Do you really need to talk about your UTI with your friend while you’re strolling through the mall or checking out at the grocery? Is it worth it to discuss your jerk boyfriend while going 80 on a busy highway? Other than those endangering themselves or others while on the phone, I especially hate those who go out with one or two people and spend their time at the table, scarfing their food while talking on a cell phone and completely tuning their dinner partner(s) out.
Even for work it seems silly. Why would anyone want their work life to interrupt their personal life? If you’re a doctor or the office burned down or even if you might cost the company a billion dollars because you didn’t answer the phone, I get that. But if you sent someone an e-mail from your Blackberry answering a question, it doesn’t seem necessary to call the recipient and talk about it right now. Everytime I think of using a cell phone for work I remember this woman who would constantly sit on conference calls in a stall in the women’s restroom. You could hear flushing all around her and the occasional sound of someone peeing or worse. It was absolutely disgusting.
Bottom line: I do think it’s annoying when people use their cell phones in public. There are precious few people who manage to use their cell phones publicly without appearing to be jerks. The vast majority slip up big time no matter how polite they think they are. No matter how good you are at multi-tasking, there’s no getting around the fact that you have a phone to your ear in a public venue where you might need to talk to someone else.
The whole point of a cell phone is that it’s used in public, or at least outside of the house.
But I think what bothers people is that so many engage in vapid, pointless conversations because they don’t know what else to do with their empty brains.
“Hello? Where are you? At the gas station? I’m at the 7-11. I’ll see you when I get home. Bye.”
The cell phone has become the number one toy of bored people. No wonder newspapers are laying off their staff.
What really bugs me about cell phone use is that, prior to their release, we had almost convinced the pager-using populace to set them all to vibrate, rather than beeping, and then along came the cell phones with their downloadable ring tones, and now I’d gladly sit through a dozen pagers beeping than have to listen to one phone playing “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
Granted, my own cell phone plays the guitar intro from “Sweet Child of Mine,” but we’re talking about other people, here.
I don’t get people like that. I can’t even think of enough people to talk to or what I would possibly say to be able to be on the phone as much as a lot of people I know. People around here are on their cell ALL the freaking time.
My parents called my cellphone one night while my husband and I were grocery shopping. When I saw who it was (and realized that it was my Dad’s birthday… ooops!) I quickly apologized to my husband, got out of the road and took the call real quick. Wished him a happy birthday and then told him that I’d call them back when I got home.
I tried to be as polite as possible in that situation.
The lady in the store last night that I kept encountering (You know how you get this aisle pattern set up and you usually wind up running into the same people in each aisle? Yeah.) had no such qualms about yammering on her phone. She was going on and on and was obviously pissed about something… all the while she’s steering the cart with one hand. She was on the phone the entire fucking time we were there! This wasn’t a quick trip, either - it was a full-on grocery shopping trip. I mean, you’d think her arm would have gotten tired or something.
I find it somewhat painful to listen to one half of a conversation. Real live conversation is much easier to turn into background noise, there is continuous speech and speakers will match each other’s volume level. With a cell phone its broken up between speech and seconds of silence, ala: “Hey did you get the — …yeah…yeah…yeah… NoNoNo the other one. …yeah …yeah …yeahyeahyeah… [etc]”.
Most of the time I feel that if normal live conversation is okay, then cell chatter is okay too. But situations where you are stuck in a room with the person (ie, the waiting room) are possible exceptions, since you have to listen to the entire half-conversation.
You and I are in the minority around here. And have you noticed how the people who work the cash register in the local corner market always are talking on their cell phone? What the hell are they talking about? (It’s usually a language I don’t understand well.)
Exactly. I mean, I am grateful for it when I am lost or I or someone else is running late and needs to update with actual new information. But just to establish where we are in completely noneventful terms? Nah.
There seem to be more and more people who are incapable of being alone with their own thoughts.
I have a cellphone. It’s almost always off. It is only turned on when there is genuine need. Eg/ It is turned on right now, because my mother will be temporarily blind after an appointment today, and I am to be summoned to guide her home (we do not know how long the procedure will take).
But people will answer them and yammer on them in movies. Why? You paid money to watch the movie. You scheduled time in your day to watch the movie. If you chose to go to the movie then, clearly, you did not expect to have anything more important crop up in your day. If you are expecting an urgent call that will change the course of your day (like waiting for a blind mom), then why did you go to the movies? Why would you answer a call from a buddy and start blathering on about stupid things?
I may be weird that way though. I don’t particularly relish the idea of people being able to reach me 24-7. I also don’t like phoning other people when I have nothing relevant or significant to say.
I have found that one of the best appreciated things I can do is to look at the phone to see who’s calling and then look at the person in front of me and say “carry on, I’ll return the call later”. It is like I just told them “there is nothing in the world right now more important than you”. Which is true. Because someone who took the trouble to transport their ass to meet with me has priority over someone who did not move their ass. If the call is very important I will say excuse me and then answer the call and say “I am sorry I am busy right now; can I call you back later?” When I do this while I was just having a casual conversation with a friend I can see they really appreciate it.
On the other hand I have had friends answer the phone and spend the next 20 minutes on really unimportant conversation. Just a few days ago I was walking in the street with a friend and he did this and after ten minutes I just tapped him and made a sign like “Bye, I’ll call you some other time” and just took off. Some people have no manners.
