guthmund

I don't care.

I used to care. I don't so much now.

I don't care if people talk on cell phones, I don't care if they're on them 24 hours a day 365 days a year. 50 years from now when they're all dying from some rare sort of brain cancer (which you just know is going to happen, right?), I won't care too much then.

All I ask...all any of us ask, really, is that those with cell phones use a little bit of common sense and be a bit more polite. If you absolutely have to call your pal to discuss the results of your latest prostate exam, please wait until you get to your car, or at the very least, in the open air, not right outside the doctor's office while waiting in a crowd for an elevator. You wouldn't yell at the top of your lungs at someone next to you in a restaurant, why is okay when that someone is on the other end of your obscenely cheap ass flip phone?

In the movies, I really don't care either. Don't have a conversation. Don't talk over the movie. Don't crack stupid jokes with a friend in a theater over while the movie is on and everything will be fine. Your little pissant 1x1 screen isn't going to detract from my movie going experience. I've spent a lot of time around annoying little children, I can tune almost anything out. In fact, as long as you make no noise, I would almost prefer you to text each other rather than talk. Even if your right next to each other.

As for class...While it's true that you are paying for the class, the fact is so is everybody else. And everybody else's enjoyment of the class goes down considerably while you waddle down the aisle, waving your butt in everyone's face as you try to manuever you, your books, your phone, your purse/manbag/backpack out of the room all while your phone is stuck repeating the chorus to Ludacris' "Hey Ya" at maximum volume. If you can quietly leave the room like an adult, you should be treated like an adult. If you can't, then you shouldn't.

Personally, I don't have a cell phone. I'm at work or I'm at home. On the rare occasion someone can't get me, then I must be out and probably didn't want to talk to you anyway.

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No signature. None. Seriously.

Grasshopper Green

Gilda, I have to agree with you on all points, and onesnowyowl on the service industry thing. When I was a cashier, I used to get so pissed off when someone would come up to pay for something while on their phone.

As far as driving is concerned, I have witnessed many near accidents due to phones, but just as many due to old people on the road, as analog mentioned. This is a problem that is related to driving itself, not just to cell phone usage. Too many people have licenses who shouldn't, and it's too easy for horrible drivers to renew them.

Basically, it all boils down to the idea that there are plenty of people out there who are all about number one and who gives a damn about others...manners really seem to have gone out the window.

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"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king"

Formerly Medusa

Grasshopper Green

Thanks for that hilarious visual, it really cracked me up.

__________________
"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king"

Formerly Medusa

Jinn

It was "proven" in the 70s and 80s that radios made drivers far more likely to have an accident than those who did not, as well as decreasing the likelihood of response to emergency vechicles (can't hear them). Your argument that radios are passive is a good one, but phones are as well. You can just as easily stop listening to a phone as you can a radio in an emergency situtation. Its about the driver, NOT the device. Banning them will solve nothing (other than padding local municipalities budget).

__________________
"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel

Janey

Yes it is about the driver. But, no, the phone is not passive. that's my point. A phone conversation engages you to such an extent, that your concentration is even more active and involved than if you were chatting to somebody sitting beside you. My uneducated guess is this is because more concentration is required to deliver/receive a message when there is no (even periphally obvserved) body language accompanying it.

I like what gothmund has to say about it. But one of Gilda's main points did not deal with adults and their childish behaviour, but with children (grade 7, 8, and high school) with cell phone in class!!! I know that in my nephew's (grade 10) school, the policy is to confiscate, even in hallways, and to release them to the guardian/parent when they show up for an appointment.

Gilda

My complaints were not about cell phones, but about their being used in a place or manner in which doing so is impolite or dangerous. It isn't about the phone, but it's manner of use.

When you sign up for a class, you are making a commitment to make that class first priority during the time for which it is scheduled. You are further agreeing to abide by the policies of the University and that particular instructor. If you cannot be there and devote that time to that purpose, and follow the rules, you shouldn't be in that class. If you find a "no cell phones in class" policy unduly interferes with your life, the solution is simple: Don't take that class.

Another poster said basically the same thing, that the cell phone screen is so small it shouldn't be a distraction. Perhaps it shouldn't be a distraction, and maybe it isn't for you, but it nonetheless is a big distraction for many others. Having a conversation during the movie is also something many people do as if they were in their living rooms, and they apparently don't think it should be a distraction to others, and because they think it shouldn't be, they don't care that it is. A movie's soundtrack is quite loud sometimes, but that does not prevent talking fromm being an unnecessary distraction. The same goes for the movie screen as compared to the cell phone screen.

The movie screen and the soundtrack aren't a distraction. They are the reason people are in the theater in the first place. If a conversation or cell phone screen diverts a person's attention from what they are there to see and hear, it is a distraction. Disrupting someone elses activities unnecessarily to attend to your personal business is rude.

__________________
I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert

Gilda

This is the same policy as in the middle school where I teach (grades 6-8). I cannot coneive of a scenario in which the immediate intervention of an eleven year old would be of such importance that the time delay required to call the office and have a message delivered would be disastrous. I can't really concieve of any legitimate use a 6-8th grader might have for a cell phone in class.

__________________
I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert

kutulu

But so is expecting everyone to conform to what some people call distracting.

The thing is that it's not that simple. First of all, teachers' policies are not posted with the class schedules. Therefore it is impossible to know if you are going to end up with some god complex teacher with asinine requirements and includes trivial matters like attendance into your grade. Additionally, there are plenty of situations where there are classes a student needs that are only taught by one professor. Gee, I guess I should change my major then?

A good teacher can teach the subject despite class members showing up late, leaving early, sleeping, or leaving temporarily to take a call. You don't know what that call is about so who are you to judge the importance of that call?

snowy

Actually, that's just called manners, etiquette, etc. Is being polite in a movie theater too much to ask? Trust me, if we were in the same movie theater, and you were causing a disturbance such as that guy did or that lady did, you would be the one being asked to leave, not me. Why? Because I KNOW better than to cause a distraction or what someone else might perceive as a distraction during a movie.

As for class, I don't know about your university, but at mine we have a week after class begins to change our schedules around. If you don't like the rules a prof has about cell phones, don't take their class. Otherwise you just have to suck it up, grin, and bear it. Personally, if a teacher wants me to have mine off, it's off. I do prefer to have it on, but it's no big deal if I can't have it on. I paid good money for that class so I should maximize my learning opportunity. However, instructors should realize distractions of all kinds happen--but it is in the best interest of themselves and their students to minimize those distractions as much as possible for the sake of creating a genuine learning environment.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jinn

I'm definitely one in the "don't take any of my goddamn rights away" crowd, and inexplicably enough I attach this as one of my rights. Not "all Americans shall be granted with the right to bear cell phones" but the right to communicate whenever and however I wish. It is my right to do what I want (within other pertaining laws), and while I certainly bend to make as many people comfortable as possible there is a point where you draw a line. If someone bent their words and behaviors to make EVERYONE comfortable, then they would be a pushover. They'd have no money, no possessions, and likely no life -- as they'd have given it over to anyone who gave them a good reason. I draw the line at driving with my cell phone and viewing that "oh so bright" LCD screen in a movie theatre; it might bother you but I think you're being overzealous. I know im capable of driving within the safe limits of the law while talking on a cell phone, and I reserve that right. I will certainly deign that TALKING is commonly considered rude, and not do that. Likewise, I will deign that most occasions do not mandate leaving the classroom to answer a phone call. These are fostered out of respect for others and a general consideration. But I won't hesitate to answer and take a phone call outside once my need to take the call becomes more important than 18 people who might be momentarily distracted by my movement.

__________________
"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel

StanT

Before the movie starts it asks you to turn off cell phones and pagers. So the problem is:
a) The person with the cell phone can't read.
b) the person with the cell phone came in after the movie started (another pet-peeve)
c) The person that owns the cell phones figures the rule don't apply to them.

I'm guessing c

Which would also carry over to the classroom. It isn't simply a matter of the teacher teaching, but of disrupting your fellow students and wasting (stealing) their time. I have no problem with setting your phone to vibrate, sitting near the door, and discretely walking out to take a call. Anything else is deciding that your convenience(time) is more important than everyone elses.

Sage

If I had a dollar for every time some @$$ in my college class didn't bother to TURN OFF their stupid cell phone ringer, I wouldn't be $27K in debt with college loans right now.

Seriously. When I'm a professor you'd better turn off your damn microchip implant (or whatever we have that replaces the cell phone) or I will reserve the right to lower your final grade by one point every time your phone rings.

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Gilda

First, attendance is trivial? Are you actually saying that attending a class is a trivial matter in the learning process? I am amazed.

Second, policies are routinely discussed first thing at the first class period. If you disagree with the policies, you are free to drop the class. You call it a god complex, I call it expecting good manners.

A good teacher also minimizes distractions so that the students who are tardy, leaving early, sleeping, or taking phone calls don't disrupt the learning process for those who are punctual and attentive. Students taking a call in class are deciding that their phone call is more important that the class not just for themselves, but for every person in the class.

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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert

kutulu

Compared to doing the reading, completing assignments, and doing projects? Yes, it's trivial. I got A's in plenty of classes where I only showed up to take exams and turn in assignments.

You can always get notes from friends if you really need them. I am the one accountable for my grade. If I feel I am understanding things well and can miss a class here and there, but still perform well on the exam my ego-driven professor shouldn't change my grade because of it.

Refer to what I said about times when there is one class offerred and its required. Also, I took great care in selecting the schedule that works around my personal and work live. I couldn't go dropping classes because the professor has moronic policies.

The 'learning process' is grossly overrated. Life is full of distractions. A hot girl with a low cut shirt can distract me a hell of a lot more than a couple people shuffling around. If someone can't tune those out they have bigger problems.

thingstodo

That works until the day the hold on isn't fast enough and you end up in someone's side or in a ditch. Operating like that you statistically have the reaction time of a legally drunk person. You'll see after a few more years behind the wheel. The odds just increase as you go along.

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Hardknock

I can understand not drinking or going to bars, etc. because technically you were at work. However, not going to public places and denying yourself activities just because you're scared that your phone is going to ring and you might offend someone is just silly. If you're in the context of a social situation that doesn't involve anything to do with your job and everyone is there to enjoy leisure time then I think it should be expected that a phone will ring. It's what the person does with it that makes it inconsiderate and rude for everyone else.

Sage

Alright, so we've established that kutulu and Gilda don't agree.

Anywho, I think this whole thing can be summed up by how much of a "noticer of your life infringing on other people's lives" you are. If you really don't notice that half of Barnes and Noble just heard that "she's dying of terminal cancer" (actual overheard cell phone conversation) then perhaps you're just an idiot. If you notice and don't care, then you probably don't care about sharing your life with everyone else. However, pedophiles share their lives with everyone else when they molest children- it doesn't make it right. (note- I'm not stupid enough to sanely compare your loud, annoying cell phone conversation with pedophelia, duh).

I, for one, will be turning my cell phone off. If you are one of the ones that don't, well, don't take any of Gilda's classes. Or mine.

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Gilda

The instructor is also accountable for the grades she gives. In-class discussion is one of the required elements of my classes. In-class assignments are also required elements. Taking notes is also a required element. You cannot participate in discussion or do in-class assignments or take notes if you are not present.

Sure, you can get notes from another student. When you do this, the student who was in class taking notes has done that part of your work for you, and it is perfectly fair to take this into account when determining a student's grade.

Some instructors are lecture and test, and couldn't care less whether students attend. That method of instruction, though not the most effective, is one that works well for them. It is not, however, one that works well for every instructor or every class. The fact that you dislike a grading policy is does not invalidate it. And this being a University, you are always free not to take a class whose policies you disagree with.

Sure you can. Unless your schedule chosen for you, you have the choice to take the class or not to take the class. Having only one class available taught by an instructor whose policies you disagree with makes the decision more difficult, but it does not change the fact that you are free to take or not to take the course as you see fit.

If the distractions don't exist in the first place, there is no need to tune them out. That you can tune them out easily does not mean that others are the same.

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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert

guthmund

Most times the truth is more funny than the lie....

That was no exception, sad to say.

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phoenix1002

You know, as long as people in movie theaters don't talk on their phones in the theater during the movie, I don't have a problem with the brief flash of light their screen might make. While it may be a slight irritation, life's too short to get all worked up about another light that goes on while watching a movie. If its a good movie, I'll be so ingrossed in watching it anyway, chances are I won't even notice.

I think students who leave their cell phones on during class are simply being disrespectful to their teachers and fellow students. Now, if you're talking about a lecture, with 100+ students, and a student has his or her phone on vibrate or silent, and they receive an important call, as long as they can leave the room without causing much of a disturbance, I feel that this is ok. And if a student forgets every once in a while to turn off the ringer, but as soon as it goes off, turns off the phone, this shouldn't be a problem either. We have to be reasonable here-people occasionally forget things. And cell phones are particularly easy to forget about, especially for people who use theirs regularly, because they simply take them for granted, and may occasionally forget to turn them off. But, people who actually take calls during class, in class, are just being rude, and there's really no excuse for that.

I definitely think that talking on cell phones while driving should be illegal unless you're using some sort of hands-free device, whether a headset or speakerphone. While there's probably somebody out there who can drive just as well while speaking on their phone as when they are not, the vast majority of people out there cannot. Someone mentioned earlier that they can count the number of times they have needed to make any sort of drastic maneuver while driving on one hand-same here, but if I had been talking on my phone the one time that I had to swerve sharply, I wouldn't have been able to drop it in time to get both hands on the wheel, and would have ended up halfway into the car in front of me. There are enough bad drivers already, they don't need anything else to distract them. Personally, I think they should just stop making automatic transmissions-its rather difficult to steer, shift, and hold a phone at the same time. And it would probably cut down on the number of SUVs out there, too... but I'm not going to go into that anymore. That's a different rant.

__________________
I'd rather be climbing...

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Gilda

Just curious. I've heard this before, that a stick shift is safer for a variety of reasons. It doesn't seem logical to me. The driver of a stick shift has three additional things to do--manage the clutch, manually shift gears, and keep track of rpm's--that the driver of an automatic does not. An automatic transmission eliminates these things that might divert a driver's attention from the road. Is there any evidence one way or the other that one type of transmission is safer than the other? Has a study been done?

How about clutchless manual shift? My car and my wife's car both have this (she says it's not a real manual because it has no clutch and a rev limiter).

In any case, I've seen people with phones balanced on their shoulders and propped against their cheeks while driving. I don't think it would eliminate cell phone driving.

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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert

snowy

Hehe...I drive a manual and talk on my cell phone at the same time (not often), so I don't think having all cars as manuals is going to change anything.

I wouldn't say manuals are safer, Gilda, but they DO cause you to be far more aware of your car than you otherwise would be. I only drove an automatic for a very long time because I'm left-handed, and supposedly lefties don't do well with manuals. What a load of crap. As for the clutch/shift/RPMs business--after practice, those things become natural--you learn to listen to your car to tell you when to shift versus looking at the tachometer or shift light, you learn how to shift so smoothly and work the clutch just right so that even your friends' cars don't phase you. It all takes practice though--an example: I learned stick via being taught and practicing the clutch/shift business before hitting the open road. My best guy friend taught himself by driving on public streets. Which of us stalls the car more often? He does. Who grinds the gears? He does. With a capable teacher, you are capable of learning anything, and it's really far easier than you think. Give it a try sometime.

/threadjack

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

pig

Holy crap. I can't believe that people are so adament about being able to be accessible every second of the day that not having the phone on for a limited amount of time is such a big deal. I was thinking the other day that it would be nice to have a portable device that would knock out the signals over a hundred square yard area or something. Come in to class / theatre / whatever, set it up , and turn it on.

Hey use your cell phones all you want... Oh crap, you can't get a signal. Guess that sucks. Now sit down and shut up.

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Janey

What you said pigglet. 100%. when did it become so important? when did we develop such a colossal cosmic ego that we all had to be 100% available 24/7???? talk about stress. Or is it just stylin? some people just pull out their phones so that they can be seen with the latest/smallest...

maleficent

DING DING DING!!! There be the answer...

My company offers support for our customers 24/7 - I have to carry a cell phone, occassionally I've gotten calls at 3am when a database has gone south, but those are rare...

I hate talking on the phone, and unless it's a customer wiht a problem the call will rarely last more than a few minutes, so people tend ot not call me... What kills me when I am out and about, is where people think it's OK to use a cell phone. I've been in airport restrooms and the person in the next stall is doing their business, including flushing and hand washing, all the while talking on the phone - -Was the call that important? Now if it were me on theother end of the phone, I would ahve hung up... I have heard people on the plane as we are waiting ... at 5:30 in the am, talking on the phone... about their sex lives.. . sorry, your sex life at this hour is not interesting to anyone...

If people could talk at reasonable volumes, where their conversations don't intrude on my space (because it is all about me, after all) then I don't care what they do, it's the people who talk so loudly and are completely oblivious to the looks they are getting, and where they are having conversations that cheeses me off and makes me wonder about where simple manners have gone.

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Charlatan

There is absolutely no need for people to be on a mobile in a movie theatre...and the same goes for class rooms.

Before we had mobiles we would have had to wait until we returned home until we could pick up a message... with a mobile all you have to do is wait until the end of the class or the end of the movie.

With all due respect, the only thing that is really that urgent is if someone has died and the chances of that happening are so remote that it isn't worth checking your bloody phone and disrupting the class (and this means not only your prof and fellow students but you).

Before anyone gets the wrong impression, I like my mobile phone. When I am abroad I can keep in touch with my wife, my office, my colleagues who are there with me via SMS at very affordable prices.

I can make a quick call from the airport before I take off to say goodbye and I love you to my kids... the list goes on.

There are also times where I will not answer my phone and those are mostly when I am having a face to face with someone. If I am in a meeting or speaking to a colleague I will silence my phone and call the person back when I am done. If it is urgent the caller will leave a message or wait until I call back.

It is just plain rude to be checking your phone in a movie theatre (unless you happen to have noone sitting either beside or behind you)... it is even more rude to do this in a classroom setting and I'm astounded that anyone would even consider doing it.

Manners *are* important.

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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

maleficent

This was an old article from InfoWorld that is worth reading

The 10 Commandments of cell Phone Etiquette

Ten Commandments of cell phone etiquette, with amendments to follow:

1. Thou shalt not subject defenseless others to cell phone conversations. When people cannot escape the banality of your conversation, such as on the bus, in a cab, on a grounded airplane, or at the dinner table, you should spare them. People around you should have the option of not listening. If they don't, you shouldn't be babbling.

2. Thou shalt not set thy ringer to play La Cucaracha every time thy phone rings. Or Beethoven's Fifth, or the Bee Gees, or any other annoying melody. Is it not enough that phones go off every other second? Now we have to listen to synthesized nonsense?

3. Thou shalt turn thy cell phone off during public performances. I'm not even sure this one needs to be said, but given the repeated violations of this heretofore unwritten law, I felt compelled to include it.

4. Thou shalt not wear more than two wireless devices on thy belt. This hasn't become a big problem yet. But with plenty of techno-jockeys sporting pagers and phones, Batman-esque utility belts are sure to follow. Let's nip this one in the bud.

5. Thou shalt not dial while driving. In all seriousness, this madness has to stop. There are enough people in the world who have problems mastering vehicles and phones individually. Put them together and we have a serious health hazard on our hands.

6. Thou shalt not wear thy earpiece when thou art not on thy phone. This is not unlike being on the phone and carrying on another conversation with someone who is physically in your presence. No one knows if you are here or there. Very disturbing.

7. Thou shalt not speak louder on thy cell phone than thou would on any other phone. These things have incredibly sensitive microphones, and it's gotten to the point where I can tell if someone is calling me from a cell because of the way they are talking, not how it sounds. If your signal cuts out, speaking louder won't help, unless the person is actually within earshot.

8. Thou shalt not grow too attached to thy cell phone. For obvious reasons, a dependency on constant communication is not healthy. At work, go nuts. At home, give it a rest.

9. Thou shalt not attempt to impress with thy cell phone. Not only is using a cell phone no longer impressive in any way (unless it's one of those really cool new phones with the space age design), when it is used for that reason, said user can be immediately identified as a neophyte and a poseur.

10. Thou shalt not slam thy cell phone down on a restaurant table just in case it rings. This is not the Old West, and you are not a gunslinger sitting down to a game of poker in the saloon. Could you please be a little less conspicuous? If it rings, you'll hear it just as well if it's in your coat pocket or clipped on your belt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pretty good rules

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ShaniFaye

I totally agree people should not USE the phone somewhere like a theater. I will turn off all the sound my phone can make, but I will not shut the phone off if I am at a movie without my daughter. If I get a text or a ring (silent/vibrate) I will get up and go in the lobby to deal with it. But there is no way I will sit unreachable for 2 +/- hours if Manda is somewhere else.

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I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

jorgelito

They have cell phone jammers now. Very popular in restaurants, churches and movie theaters. BUT, for some reason, they are illegal in the fascist United States of America. One side effect, the Israeli Army uses them to jam "cell phone" signals from detonating IEDs (improvised Explosive Devices). They come in all different sizes and ranges.

You can get a 30 foot range unit about the size of a cell phone for about a $100-200.

Hubgiant - WAC 1000 Personal Jammer ($169)

Netline - Special Electronics Security Product - SH-066 PLZA ($279)

Welcome to peace and quiet

__________________
"The race is not always to the swift, nor battle to the strong, but
to the one that endures to the end."

"Demand more from yourself, more than anyone else could ever ask!"

- My recruiter

ShaniFaye

I should add....that I keep the phone under my leg so I can feel it vibrate and the light doesnt bother anyone.

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I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

pig

Hell yes. I don't even have a land-line, cell phone all the way. I just become rapidly annoyed by the fact that every person I see on the street, in restaurants, etc - constantly has to talk to someone. Anyone. Just constant talky talky. And those are times when it's not really rude, just annoying. Even worse during a public performance or during a meal or a class.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the constant communication. I'm certainly not trying to change anyone mind about it, if they're the type that loves to be on the phone, or if not the phone then IM, or if not the phone or IM watching TV, or fuck I don't know what else. But I would really appreciate it if all that crap would drop off when I'm paying to watch something specific in a shared public venue.

For the theatre example, how would those people who say it's not annoying for the phone screen to constantly be flipping open feel about someone carrying in a small TV and watching it with earphones? I'll admit I don't own a TV, and I rarely go to movies. However, when I watch TV, I watch TV. Same with movies. If I'm going to talk to my friends or whatever, I'll go elsewhere. I'm in the theatre for the sole express purpose of watching the movie. All of your other crap gets in the way of my experience. Same goes for the classrooms. Can't people just focus for a short period of time?

/end little rant

edit for clarification, i have no problem with the phone on silent, or quick little checks in a considerate fashion. there are ways to manage mobile communication so that everyone around you isn't bothered. i refuse to believe that people can sneak alchohol, drugs, oral sex etc in theatres / public venues, but can't be sneaky with a phone.

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Cuatela

My brother pointed this out, and I agree: It's really annoying to see and hear people trying out all their new ringtones, as if their phone is the coolest phone ever (even though over a hundred other people have one with the same ringtones)...who cares?

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Any sarcasm was intentional.

maleficent

Actually, you can make quite a game out of it..I was bored one night on the train from DC to NY and decided to have some fun to amuse myself. (the car I was in had a lot of self-important pretentious windbags (I am most certainly not one, I am much to evil for that0...

Every 10 minutes or so, I would test a ring tone on my phone... and watch how many people grabbed for their phones, naturally assuming that any phone ringing was their phone... Doesn't matter that one time it was the Nokia ring, and the next time it was Take Me out to the Ballgame.. Every time I'd hit the ringer button, no less than 12 people grabbed for their phones.. Pavlov's dog anyone?

It kept me amused for a good 45 minutes, then I got bored of my toys...

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pig

That's because you're evil

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You don't love me, you just love my piggy style

Cynthetiq

Too many assholes out there with cellphones. I do hope that they do find correlations between wattage and brain tumors, because all those chatty cathys and bombastic bobs will just be thinned out via natural selection.

Just because you have 1000 anytime minutes does not give you the RIGHT to use it for 1000 minutes anytime you want.

I just got out of jury duty and it was nice to see that Judges DO NOT LIKE CELLPHONES in their courtrooms. They will publicly embarass you and confiscate your phone, to get it back? You have to fall in line with the rest of the people that had to surrender their camera phones at security, a rather long line and additional time one has to stay at the courthouse.

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Gilda

This reminds me of a discussion we had with some of Grace's friends once. They were over for dinner, and the phone (home phone) rang. We ignored it and just let the voicemail pick it up. They were apalled. How can you just let you phone ring and not answer it? Well, like that, we explained. The fact that the phone is ringing creates no obligation on my part to answer it. If we're having dinner, or watching a dvd, or playing an online game, or doing anything else that takes precedence over a random phone conversation, we just don't answer the phone, and return the calls of those people we wish to speak to at our convenience.

We don't even have a phone in our bedroom because we don't like being disturbed while sleeping or making love. The only exception is if Grace is on call, she'll keep her pager or cell phone in there, but that's usually not a concern. I'm constantly a little surprised that people don't realize that you can just let the phone ring and not answer it.

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raeanna74

I agree with the rules stated so far.

As for the one with students in class. I've heard people complain that there might be an family emergency or something. There is such a thing as a land line and parents should be able to call the school office and get the message to the student that way. Otherwise if I were a student and I knew a family member was in the hospital doing poorly and I needed to be able to leave ASAP when I got a call I would be courteous enough to alert my teacher prior to class and still leave my phone on vibrate in my jacket or on my pants. There is no reason to disturb others.

I'd like to add another rule. If you are on a cell phone in a social situation, even on the bus, and someone approaches you about being a disturbance. Apologize and either talk quieter or call the person back depending on the urgency of the call. NO matter what make the calls SHORT in public.

I have seen way to many poor drivers (including my Dad) who talk on the phone while driving and drive even worse. It's impossible to tell who could "handle" it and who couldn't. Just don't do it. At LEAST not without a headset? and don't dial or (for goodness sake) text message while driving. That's stupid.

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kutulu

Sorry but extending things to buses and public places and such is petty bitching. I guess we should all just sit there facing forward with our hands on our laps and not say a word. Fuck that. It's boring to sit on a bus and if I had to be subjected to the bus system I'd be on that phone passing time.

Want to know whats wrong with the country? A thread about phone annoyances gets 70+ responses in a day.

Cynthetiq

actually, let's put what you said in more context....

you're right, you say it's bad enough to be sujected to the bus system...

I'm subject to it everyday, going to the subway and back home from the subway. Have you ever been on a subway that goes underground and above ground? Underground it's quite quiet, with the occassional animated loud converstation or busker. Once it goes above ground, everyone flips open their cellphones to just shoot the shit and pass the time. Again, no issue if it's within the confines of yourself, but it's not, people subject others to their grocery lists, errands, which kid is being bad, which boyfriends called, which girl is a bitch, and the rest of the trivialities of life that encompass these phone calls.

On top of the bad enough that I have to take the bus, I also have to listen to Chatty Cathy discuss how Boy A didn't do this or that, or Mommy calling home to say she's finally on the bus, which to me is equal the inane call after landing on a plane,"We landed"

If they were talking in low tones, I'd agree with you even more, but carrying on like they would in their own living room is unacceptable to me, just as LOUD STEREOS are unacceptable to other drivers.

and if you think that 70+ replies on a thread is what's wrong with this country, I'm going to say flat out, the real problem is today's people think more about themselves than they do about the community around them.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

pig

I personally think call-screening is one of the best things to come out of answering machines / voice mail.

and kutulu: i think the interesting thing about this thread is the commentary on general manners and possibly the role of instant communication in our lives, not so much the cell phone specifics. No?

edit: from my perspective, the aspects of this discussion about simple (potentially) annoying public use of cell phone is an case where I think someone should be completely free to do something, I just wish they would choose not to.

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