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Why Mobile Phones Are Annoying
griffinn writes "Jakob Neilsen recently conducted a study comparing the perceived annoyance level of two commuters having a face-to-face conversation and one commuter talking on the mobile phone. Interestingly enough, subjects were also asked whether the ring tone is annoying, and people didn't find the ring to be particularly bad."
Try this
The ringtones arent the bad part.
The bad part is the loud speakers that really dont need a phone in the first place.
The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
Switch to Verizon and you won't have to keep yelling can you hear me now. No seriously - CDMA which is used by Verizon and Sprint have positive feedback meaning that the phone continually transmits and receives; so what you say but what happens is you hear background noises and you perceive mentally that the person has your complete attention.
With other vendors that use TDMA such as ATT, Cingular, TMobile they have to electronic introduce background noise because this technology doesn't continually transmit. They introduce clicks and pops to simulate background noise. This gives you the perception that you have to yell to keep the other persons attention.
How are those damn ring tones NOT annoying? "Hey look how cool I am with my 50 cent ring tone!" What ever happened to a plain phone, that rings, vibrates and stores contact information. I find the whole ringtone /instant messaging and even the internet on my phone quite useless.
How about a study showing the time delay from when a cellphone rings in the theater to when people get mad, measured in milliseconds. In L.A. it must be higher than here,because we get people from there talkin on phones like it's their job, IN the theater, DURING the movie.
stuff |
I beleive people tend to talk louder while on a cellphone. They repeat themselves over and over. "Can you hear me? I said..." People will talk on a cellphone without regard to their "real life" companion... sometimes I feel as if I'm not really there when someone gets involved in a conversation. And its annoying because, when I want to listen in, I only hear half of the conversation!! :-)
Just my US$0.02
If it was a Nielsen study it would have said that "most people" feel a certain way, where "most people" is a pseudonym for "Jakob Nielsen".
This is not the greatest sig in the world, this is just a tribute.
On the contrary. I believe most would find the ring tone to be most annoying.
As I regularly deal with theatrical performances of all different natures I see the dismay that people have for the damn things-- Even different amounts of annoyance with different ringtones.
The more bubbly and in-your-face, the more people become agitated if the phone isn't shut-up immediately.
When those old guys get a cell phone and think they need to scream into the headset, and everyone around them can hear.... And you know everyone wants to tell them, "dude, there's no need to scream...." And the other annoying thing is when people have those old original tunes on their phone. Like before phones tones can be somewhat recognizable.... And your like damn, could this guy turn it up anymore? And then he's trying to explain to everyone that it's "You know that song that goes... Hey, Yah!, Heyyyyy YAHHH!"
I can't stand when someone has a cell phone conversation and speaks too loud. It's as if these people are trying to let everyone else know that they are "cool" and talk so loud that you can pretty much follow thier conversation, even though you are only hearing one side. I think it's funny too the people that pimp through the mall with the high-tech headset attatched. Usually these are the people that appear not to have a dime to thier name, but somehow still have the most expensive phone on the market. I wish people on cell phones would be more courteous, and only take calls where acceptable, and then only speak as loud as they need too.
--
Retail Retreat
My "ringer" is set to vibrate - wherever I am, because other people don't need to hear the ringing. When I'm in a bookstore, library or restaurant, if I take or make a call I either walk out to the lobby, or find a place where others aren't. And I wear a headset when I drive, but I still see tons of people breaking my state's cell phone law, despite an alleged "ticket blitz."
I think these guys have been conducting this experiment on the train I catch to work for the last two years.
I should buy some cement.
Speaking of annoying ring tones..I used to have the knight rider theme, then one day my phone randomly reset to the classic rotary phone sound. Everyone that hears it thinks it's really cool. It's a really well done tone.
The most annoying sound is people who have holiday songs turned all the way up. For instance - we wish you a merry christmas going off in Lord Of The Rings!!!
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
"Interestingly enough, subjects were also asked whether the ring tone is annoying, and people didn't find the ring to be particularly bad." ..In related news, Hell freezes over!
I rather like their hypothesis that people pay more attention to half a conversation than a full one and it seems it may be dead on. While I don't particularly listen in on others' conversations, I know I definitely overhear a cell conversation, even at normal volume, because having only half the conversation seems to leave my brain wondering and pondering the other half more.
Although, I can't believe they don't think the rings are annoying. I just wish a phone could have at least one decent normal ringer now... I don't want a song, but there really aren't options other than those now. The most recent phone we bought was for my fiance and all the rings it came with were songs. We figured we'd download something normal and only found more songs. Ultimately, we just picked the song ringer that sounded the least annoying.
-N
I've nothing to say here...
Reading this article reminded me of a tech toon I drew about the same subject. Here it is. Of course, my inspiration was being stuck at an airline gate waiting to come home. Enjoy!
The PC Weenies: 11 Years of Online Tech 'Too
is the loud speakers. I used to see the same thing with construction supervisor types in restaraunts with radiophones, back before the modern mobils became possible. Now they do it with mobile phones, along with lots of other people who never had access to a radiophone.
And of course, some people talk at the top of their voice even when they're sitting face-to-face with the people they're talking to. (And have a tendency to be complaining about their family problems or some other crap you particularly don't want to hear.)
The ringers are annoying during a movie, concert, lecture, exam, etc., but much more often it is the overly loud yakking that annoys. I hate sitting in a restaraunt and having to raise my voice to talk to someone at the table with me because someone four tables away is hollering into a cell.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
The study was done by Monk et al. Nielsen's story is merely an abstract.
Original article: Andrew Monk, Jenni Carroll, Sarah Parker, and Mark Blythe: "Why are Mobile Phones Annoying?" Behaviour and Information Technology, vol. 23, no. 1, 2004, pp. 33-41.
Yet.
However, one time I was in a bathroom and the guy in the next stall took a call on his cell phone. I immediately made all sorts of grunting, straining, and moaning noises as if I were trying to pass a moose. He hung up after twenty seconds, and before he could say anything to me, I thanked him and returned to the quiet matter at hand.
The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines
Interestingly enough, subjects were also asked whether the ring tone is annoying, and people didn't find the ring to be particularly bad."
The ringing isn't really the problem. The real problem is this:
john: so you see, I had to go see him yesterday.
Peter: yeah, I know what you mean [ring ring]. Hang on a sec there John... HELLO! YES! HI SWEETY HOW ARE YOU? WHERE ARE YOU? WHEEEERE?! CAN'T HEAR YOU, GOING UNDER A TUNNEL!! WHAAAT?
(Well, and of course the ringing)
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
I think with the advances made in mobile technology, something should be done about informating people of a call in a manner that is not annoying to others.
Phones that just beep or emulate a land line phone ringing is acceptable, but I totally hate those 2 tone mangled excuses of popular music people call ring tones.
Take the vibrating alert.. Thats a good start. Why not improve on it? like make a little ring or bracelet or pen or whatever and make that vibrate too? Or maybe even a watch strap? It informs you of a call and is non annoying at the same time.
Sometimes I wish I was a plumber, then I'd know how to deal with other people's shit.
You can change default ring tone and in most new phones you can use WAV, MIDI or MP3 files as a ring tone.
This study confirms what I have known for a long time, from my personal experience of being a curious, obsessive bastard. That is; mobile phone conversations are annoying mainly because you can only hear one side of the conversation. This makes you want to hear the other side of it, just to fill in the blanks.
Often, after hearing someone speaking a mobile phone, I just want to ask: 'OK, so what exactly were you talking about? I already know half of it, thank you very much - so tell me the rest or I'll kidney punch you!' Grrrrr ...
I hear there's rumors on the Slashdots
I agree. What's even more annoying is those two way plans that work like walkie talkies. In such a situation, not only do you have to listen to the person talking but also their companion over the phone.
" when I want to listen in, I only hear half of the conversation "
Trust me, unless you are with a friend who's talking to another friend, you really don't.
Wasn't there some research on the use of mob. phones which concluded that people raised their voices in response to the volume of noise that they were hearing on the handset e.g. the louder the caller talked the louder the calleree spoke. Would it be hard to put some code into the phone which would adjust the volume automatically depending on the gain of the source, like you can do with some mp3 converters so that no track seems louder the rest...
This technology along with a vibrator would solve the problem quite effectively.
Underholdning.info
It is that I cannot get a good cell phone anymore that doesn't come with a camera, so I have to decide to either leave my cell phone in the car while I am at work or get a dumbed down basic cell phone.
These manufactures really aren't thinking of the part of the market that buys the most cell phones, and that is the corporations, and most corporations have strict guidlines against cameras. So it really blows, and I hope they come to they senses and stop marketing to the teeny-boppers. At least they could put out comparable phone that doesn't have that camera.
question is :
why bother start a conversation with an asshole in the first place? If you want to speak with him (as he's your colleague after all...), just call him on his cell phone. Works like a charm.
cheers,
-Lr-
In South-East Asia, where I am from, having a handphone is almost as important as being literate;you can't really live without it.You can but its hard to communicate long distance since public land-line phones are not well mantained and are in generally bad condition.Its no longer a matter of status/fashion statement.
This is why public cell-phone ethics is a serious issue here.In general, the older ones have a tendency to talk too loudly, however I do noticed that the younger generations have learnt to speak as unobtrusively as possible, maybe realising the phone-speaker can actually pickup their voice without having to shout across the room.
My 2 cents
I don't think I have ever finsihed a conversation with that dude
That might be because you never start any novel conversation.
MODERATORS: read this guy's posting history and perhaps you'll realize he's recycling posts and karma-whoring like there's no tomorrow.
They are small, unobtrusive and the chance of being caught is infinitesimally small.
Someone's pissing you off? Click it on and their signal vanishes. Sure they try to re-dial for 2 mins but as soon as it's apparent that their mobile just isn't working they stop.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
Having lived for nearly a year in Shanghai, I'm all but immune to cellphones. As a matter of fact, I've been one of those people who not only leave their cellphone on in the theater, but actually take the time to answer if it rings. I kid you not, this is normal behavior here.
And why not? In China, as well as most parts of Asia, cellphones are not an annoyance in any way. They're just a part of life. I think in the West, cellphones were initially thought to be annoying because they were an obnoxious show of money, and this has carried on to this day. In China and South Korea, having a cellphone is part of life and is not considered as annoying.
Methink the people surveyed here thought a cellphone conversation was more annoying than a face-to-face conversation simply because it's, well, a cellphone conversation. We still tiptoe around cellphones in the West. For all I can see, this annoyance is purely cultural.
(Earlier today, I saw a perfect picture of modern-day Shanghai: in a sea of bicycles, a man riding, and a woman seated in the Chinese way in equilibrium on the back of the bike with both her legs on one side... And as the man pedals his old rusted bike, the girl behind her is merrily thumb-keying SMS messages to her friends.)
> I've got some great ringtones on my phone:
How 'bout the classic "Can you make time to talk to the President now?".
> sounds from a late 70's pr0n flick
The fake-sounding ooohs and aaahs, or the fake-sounding music?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Someone walking down the street talking on a cell phone doesn't bother me, nor does someone sitting in a restaurant talking on a cell phone.
What REALLY bothers me is when I'm sitting in a presentation at a conference (or something like that) and they repeatedly ask that people turn off cell phones or set them to vibrate. Then, naturally, someone's phones has to ring half way through.
Now answer me this, what kind of fucked up individual sits there while someone clearly asks them to silence their phone and doesn't? What is the thought process? Is it "Well, everyone else is turning silencing their phones like they asked, but they couldn't have meant me" or is it more "I'm not going to silence my phone, I'll just assume that nobody will call me"? Or is it that these people somehow forgot that they HAVE a phone?
I've never understood this but it seems to happen every time. Almost as if making the announcement before a presentation to silence phones CAUSES one to ring eventually.
Oh, and the worst is when the phone is in some kind of bag or briefcase and the owner just ignores it like everyone around him doesn't know it is his and he doesn't want to give away that HE is the asshole. We all know it is your phone you goober, looking around like you are trying to figure out whos it is will not fool anyone so turn it off!
There, I feel better now.
Finkployd
Let me first start by saying that I agree mobile phone use does have its etiquette, and certain limits should be respected (i.e. volume of the ring tone in a quiet place, such as a library).
But I really think it's only a matter of habit. I believe if an American lived in Sweden for a while (a country with one of the highest mobile phone penetration rates), they would quickly get used to hearing phones ringing and people talking on them all the time, without feeling necessarily annoyed. It's the constant reinforcement by others in US society that mobile phones are in fact extremely annoying that maintains this perception.
It's almost as if people go out of their way to get annoyed at someone talking on the phone. Because logically speaking, and as the article states, if you only hear half the conversation, you should only be bothered half as much. And if listening to just one side of the conversation is bothering you, then why are you listening in the first place?
Hello. HELLO.
I'm writing on slashdot.SLASHDOT
Nah its rubbish
Omnis amans amens
What it really comes down to is a matter of how nosey you can be. We all are motivated to some degree by a sense of morbid curiosity -- a simple enough desire to know everything. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. If two people choose to have a conversation within earshot of me, I am not going to be made to feel the slightest bit guilty for listening in {however, I would draw the line at passing on information received without consent. Being privy to a secret doesn't give you the right to broadcast it}. If it's that important, they can always get up and go somewhere else.
If two people are having a face to face conversation in a language in which you are fluent, then you can hear both sides of the conversation. You can then make a fully-informed decision just how much attention to pay to it.
If one person is on a mobile phone, having one side of a conversation in a language in which you are fluent, it can drive you crazy trying to work out what is going on. You probably are devoting more attention to it than you can afford, and this also increases annoyance.
Two people talking face to face in a language in which you are not fluent, can also be extremely annoying.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
I occassionally do some work for a person who works as a producer in Los Angeles. So far, she has answered her cellphone at a museum, at a classical music concert, while in meetings and on a date. The last time I called her she mentioned after about three minutes that she was at a movie theater, watching a movie. I asked her why she even bothered to answer her mobile. I think she was actually dumbfounded that anyone would not answer their phone when it rang.
I suspect that one part of why hearing half a conversation is more annoying has to do with the intermittent nature of half a conversation. Whenever someone starts talking near me, particularly if they are using a loud voice, I listen for a moment to see if they are talking to me. If they are in a conversation where I an hear both parts it's easier to ignore as it's easy to tell that they are not addressing me. With the stop/start pattern of half a conversation, I think most people are subconsciously triggered to pay attention to see if someone wants to talk to them, every time the local speaker makes a remark.
This doesn't explain why I dislike using mobile phones, which is what i really what to know.
Also it isn't the phone which annoys people, it appears to be other people.
hold on let me get this call...
The study says "people pay more attention when they hear only half a conversation".
The solution to this is to have a bigger speaker on the cellphone so that bystanders can hear both sides of the conversation.
no, I don't have a sig
Will people stop focusing on the wrong thing (cell phone) and return focus to the actual source of the problem (asshole)?
The "Best Office Weapon" poll was getting rather annoying by not getting updated to a new one. Alas! /. lost out on a good poll idea.
The best planning can be done after the project completes.
They're annoying because..they're annoying.
-The insipid ringtones (hi, Britney!)
-The shouting
-The uniformity of the conversation (I'M ON A TRAIN! WHERE ARE YOU?)
-The blandness of what's being said (YES WELL I WAS SAYING TO MARGE THAT I REALLY LIKE THE FLOWERS AND MARGE SAID...)
I've noticed that the people who speak more quietly on phones tend to make a more educated and lucid impression--they stick to a conversation, for them a phone chat isn't some HYPER-/<3WL 5H1T D00D, but a tool, and they understand that they don't have to yell to be heard.
Maybe talking face to face with someone makes it easier for them to smack you upside the head when you say something idiotic.
To be perfectly honest, when idiots converse loudly in person, it's equally irritating. But then, that's probably just me.
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
next time this guy comes over to talk to you, wait until the conversation has started then turn around and start a brief conversation with someone else.
Ringtones are the MOST ANNOYING part of cellphones. Especially the ones that try to poorly mimic popular songs.
Typically, "Hello.....I'm on the train...just gone through Ealing Broadway...see you about seven."
Most of these conversations are largely pointless, probably intended to show everyone else in the area that the speaker (a) has a mobile and (b) knows at least one other human being.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
It's getting harder and harder to pass yourself off as a bona-fide wack-job these days...
A good friend will help you move. A really good friend will help you move a body.
A few thoughts on this research.
:) ) will get annoyed quicker. If this is true, it's unfortunate, because it means that even if the majority of mobile phone users can be educated to be considerate, people will still get annoyed even at them, because they've been "pre-annoyed" by the inconsiderate people.
I'm surprised the author made no reference to the relative volumes of the mobile phone converstation and the face to face conversations. Was the mobile phone conversation the same volume as the normal conversation, the loud conversation, or somewhere in between? If it was the same volume as the loud conversation, the would support the conclusions drawn by the author, that annoyance is primarily due to the exagggerated volume. If it was the same volume as the normal conversation, something else about mobile phones is annoying people.
I suspect that peoples expectations have some affect as well. People who have been annoyed by mobile phones before (ie everyone
Hello? Yes hello slashdot, what? I'M ON THE TRAIN. No it's not annoying, Hello, What? Say that again? No it's just the same as taking to the person next to you. Hang on a bit we are about to go through, I SAID WE ARE ABOUT TO GO THROUGH A TUNNE........boop, boop, boop For full effect, turn this all into caps.
You don't need a lab to make mud.
I can only speak for my self but I REALLY HATE phones who make those pc-speaker type beeping noises, never mind the tunes. For some reason they annoy me immensely, the funny thing is that once I got my new Ericsson T610 which has a good quality speaker I switched it to an old fashioned bell ringing tone which for some reason does not bother me half as much as the beeping and those infernal showtunes and elevator-music classics.
I rather like the Internet function on my phone because it enables me to download E-mail when I am on the move. Apart from that the internet function is pretty useless. The Bluetooth innterface is a blessing however since my phonebook goes into the hundreds of contacts.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
I've tried Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile, they all suck.
Calls drop left and right. It's reallying annoying. Cell phones are barely usable these days and it seems to be getting worse.
Nazz
I like that one :P
Or as he is better known
Dom Jolly.
Remember, you read it here first:
The (now seemingly proven) fact that bystanders find people talking on their mobile phone more annoying than two people having a conversation is quite understandable.
It is the fact that they seem to be talking to themselves that is disturbing. Usually that is a sign of a mental illness and as I'm sure you are aware makes people quite uneasy.
The article says nothing about the demographic selection of the bystanders. I would be willing to bet real money that (the majority of) the people who participated in the study were over twenty. That is likely to be important since kids today are more used to mobile phones and would be less likely to be disturbed by their use. On the other hand people who grew up before mobile phones were common are subconsciously conditioned to regard people talking into their hand as lunatics.
Unfortunately I have no study to back up my teory, it's just a hunch...
I truly enjoy when I'll be in the middle of an important conversation with someone when their hell phone goes off and they totally disregard our conversation to answer their phone. And back in college, in one of my mass lecture classes these freshman chicks would "whisper" across the room alerting their friends that they were going to "Text" message each other. And they'd proceed to do that all class all the while giggling. Not to mention the amount of phones that rang every damn class was rediculous. I find it amazing how important people think they are that they need to be available by phone 24/7. Even while in their college classrooms. The worst is with cars. In my opinion driving while talking with a cellphone should be held in the same regard as being intoxicated. Take someone in their new Lincoln Navigator "blingin" on their cellphone and you're asking for trouble. Oh and another annoying thing, is people who call me on their cellphone and it sounds like shit. My gf will call me and the connection always gets hosed, theres lots of noise, and its just plain annoying talking like that. Half the conversation is me asking "what?". I live in PA, so maybe we just have shitty cell service, buts its usually really bad. And I also like how people try to make fun of me because I don't own one. Like I'm not part of their elite crowd. I have other things to waste my cash on.
My ringtone is Worf's voice saying, "Captain, incoming message!" It's not to be cool; that's who is really calling.
People who appear to be talking to themselves have always been regarded as social outcasts. Sure that's God (or your sister-in-law) talking to you.
Or is that just me?
biopowered.co.uk - catalytically cracking triglycerides for home automotive use since 2008. Just say no to big oil!
Install a few strong lamps in the roof, that is motor-aimed.
;)
Add some radio-tracking stuff, that listens for active cell-phones, and controlls the lamps.
As soon as somebody start talking in their phone, a directed (strong!) light beem will shine on them from above, or to be techincal towards the phone, but the end result is the same.
The angry shouts from the crowd, now that they see who to blame will make that person switch of the phone within seconds
I think this is much to prefer above legalisation, it like handling animals, make the "right" choise the easy one, and all bad choises unpleasant - As soon as you behave acording to plan, you get the comfort of being left alone and not bothered.
The worst are those walkie -talkie phones where that continually beep, and force you to shout into them. Who came up with that idea? How is that better than talking on a normal phone, with or without a hands-free set? Unless you are working on a construction site, therer is no need for it.
Last friday I read in other news that a cell phone possibly ignited a flash explosion of gas vapors. I think this incident will revive the discussion about banning cell phone use from gas stations. In almost every manual there's a warning not to use the cell phone when exposed to inflammable gasses. I haven't seen a warning signs at filling stations yet but I expect them to come soon.
..or it could just be that the guy has invented a neat way of getting out of unpleasant conversations..
On my commute home last night I wondered why I kept hearing VERY LOUD morse code of three letters repeated 4 times. By the 6th time the code played I racked my brain to recall my ancient ham radio training to figured out that it was dit-dit-dit dah-dah dit-dit-dit (S-M-S).
I could see the trendy little thing down the aisle was busy SMS-ing away. Gotta push a lotta keys to type "OMG!" on a phone keypad. No reason at all to turn the damn speaker down when you the phone is right in front of you.
Ever dream you could fly? Get up from the Flight Sim. I Fly
...isn't the ring tones, or people using it in theatres (never had that problem), or even people talking louder. I'm sure they are annoying ring tones and people who can't comprehend "Please turn of your phones now" or people who go "HELLO?!?" and whatnot - it's just that they don't bug me (as much).
Two things really bug me:
1) You only know half of the conversation. So, naturally, the person that you can't hear is apparently the funniest person alive, and the person on the phone can't stop laughing, or then he'll act like he can insult you, and so he does, as if he forgets you can hear him, etc.
2) You have the person over and you're hanging out with your friends and you're all having a good time, and then someone's phone rings, and they go and leave the room, or they just stay there (even worse) but they just kinda drop out of the party and all. It's like being socially antisocial or something.
Just bugs me.
If you're annoyed about other people using their phones near your holiness then you are probably annoyed by real conversations too.
Though to be fair, when did people discover that they had to look all macho and shit talking into a phone held sideways, away from and in front of their face?
And my homies - when you go the movies, why do you all need to wear the headsets? Do you think you're on Pimp My Ride?
Nope, phones aren't annoying, people are.
http://www.globalgadgetuk.com/
uh, maybe he is not getting a phone call, maybe he just doesn't want to talk to you
It's not that somebody is an asshole, it's that they have made a mistake. And with many people, it's likely that one of them will have made a mistake.
Let's say that in 1 out of 100 meetings, you fail to turn off your phone (either you hit the wrong button, you thought it was already off and didn't check, etc). Now imagine there are 200 people in the audience, each with a 50% chance of receiving a call during the meeting. The chance of a single person's phone being correct is 0.99. But of the 100 people who will receive a call (.5 * 200), the probability that they are all correct is 0.99^100, or ~0.36. That means there's a 74% chance that somebody's phone will ring, just as an accident!
Obviously the numbers are made-up, but you can see how many unlikely independent probabilities combine to create an unintuitive result.
I was at a business lunch, we where four people in all (all old friends) and the mattes had gone from business to just talk. We where having fun..
One of the guys mobils rings. He looks at it and says "Sorry, I have to take this...".
He answers the phone and the conversations goes like this:
X:"Hi, this is X".
[The other part identifies it self, and obviously askes if it's interrupting anything important]
X: "No, no problem - I was bored anyway".
Cracked me up!
But there's a good bit of truths in it. When you answer your mobile phone while in company with other people, that's basicly what you are saying.
"I'm answering this call, because I care more about having a conversation with a random stanger, than this conversation I'm having with you. For not other reason that the fact that it's convinient for the stranger to talk to me now. The fact that you are wasting your time while I'm having the conversation will not mean anything to me, and I'll keep on talking as long as it take and beyond..."
TC - My Photos..
If the problem is really the half-dialog, then just build high a quality speaker in the phone, then everybody can listen the full dialog!
Well the answer is...
Wait until he is having a conversation with someone else.
Then phone him, you will have his 100% attention.
The poster you are remarking on is as correct as a study of a thousand people in a controlled study and their opinion. especially if it was/is a blind study.
I do not think it is funny and I support (common sense rules) what a person believes or a group, to what their opinion is.
The same results arrive when it comes to an opinion,one or a thousand involved, it is their's.
Just my opinion.
Carry on :)
I eat my grapes at room temperature, cuz the cold ones hurt my teeth
I think the reason why people pay attention half-conversations rather than full ones is that half-conversation are not conversations.
You could, of course, argue that they are, but a more normal interpretation of someone yacking into a digital device is not a conversation, but simply someone yacking into a digital device. Any dog would tell you the same thing.
Put another way, there's little discernable difference between someone talking on a cell phone and talking into a dictaphone, muttering to himself, making rude noises, or reading aloud from a book. The deference given to people holding private conversations in public spaces is due in large part to the natural instict to give up your minority rights (only one of you) to the majority (the two people having a conversation). If there's just the two of you, the guy with the digital device doesn't deserve majority rule, regardless of how many digital devices he's got powered on.
Mobile phones aren't annoying. It's the insensitive and ignorant users who are annoying.
...or as he is even better known:
Dom Joly
If your comment title says 'Re: Foo', I'm not likely to read it.
Shout them down. It's seems to be standard practice in Denmark. If some idiot is rude enough to let their phone go off in a restaurant and then have the gall to answer it, the noise level goes way up for the duration of the conversation. Those nearest the idiot, talk to each other or themselves and make every excuse to clank silverware or dishes until the conversation is over.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
I think it's worse when they silence the ring instead of turning off the phone. Then the same person on the other ends calls back repeatedly wondering why the owner won't pick up their phone! Naturally the ringer goes off a couple of times and is a total distraction...this happens in my college courses so often I've gotten fairly irate though it provides me with this story.
I'm sitting in a lecture hall when a cell phone rings for the second time. Everyone looks at me, even though the owner happens to be just behind me in the next row up. They all are totally annoyed that I"m continuing to let the phone ring, when I take a drink of my juice slowly. Let out a nice sigh and say very loudly, "She's the asshole. It's not my phone." A nice gesture with my thumb pointing up at her sealed the event.
A couple of people chuckled and she was so embarrassed she grabbed her bookbag and walked out the door. Since she's been back the phone hasn't rung once. :-)
Here in CH you also have a 100 CHF fine for using your phone without a handsfree set in the car. And here in CH you also have people (like me) who spend quite a bit of time on the phone with other people at the same time as working on a laptop in a train or at a desk away from a fixed line where I could plug in a bulky headset. Not to mention those of us who don't like untangling cables all the time.
:)
So I appreciate the fact that you said "most of the people" instead of "all the people".
What's really funny is that a lot of people using cheap wired mikes end up holding the damn mouthpiece up to their face anyway while talking
Regardless, I haven't seen a single bluetooth headset where the battery doesn't go to shit after a few months of use--my Sony Ericcson, while it was useful during its (short) life, is now basically a fairly expensive bit of drawer-filling junk.
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
One of the main reasons to go out in the first place is to be away from the phone. You lose points for carrying a mobile contrary to what it was 40 years ago with 'car phones'.
Some ring tones are anoying, most not. What is anoying is knowing what comes next. You will notice the conversation more and the poor design (too small) of most handsets causes people to speak up. It is also anoying being in an office and dealing with someone on a landline who is connected by GSM. (GSM is not a bad protocol, its the artsy handset that stinks.)
Still more anoying is to be on the town with friends and someone gets a call. It can ruin the whole group effort. Life sure must be hell when anyone can reach you at their whims in your spare time out. Email is just fine and many of us mail online so its faster than IM when you want it that way.
Bottom line is I don't want to be bothered by these things when I'm enjoying quality time. People could atleast have the courtasy to say they are with people and call back, turn the thing 'off' where the ANI can take the info or just leave them at home or the job.
Why is it that when you go see a person and the phone starts ringing, they have to interrupt an important conversation to take of someone out of the blue?
When doing service calls a few years back, I remember going to this customer and the receptionist was too busy answering the phone. After 20 minutes of "one moment, I'll be right with you" I decided to use the guest phone and call her up asking for the person I wanted to see. Manners are just out the window where phones are concerned.
^D
What's more annoying is when people don't change the default Nokia ringtone.
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I wonder if the annoyance factor about only hearing half the conversation is that people perhaps like to eavesdrop on others conversations. Hearing only half of it becomes annoying as you can't fully make out what's being said...just a thought. But yeah, I hate the things too, don't own one, don't know if I will. Hard to think I'm technophobic, when technology is my line of work, but sometimes seeing somebody walk down a hall seemingly talking to themself kind of strike me as odd. What really surprised me when I started working where I do, is the amount of people of who carry on conversations on them...in the freaking bathroom, sometimes while the work is in progress, if you follow. Man, that's just bad (sort of like not washing your hands after you're done. sorry, that's just disgusting; please do not shake my hand, nor touch my food.)
When I socialize, I leave the mobile in my bag or jacket. Phone calls are hardly ever that urgent -- if I am expecting a semi-important call, I'll put the phone on the table, explain why, and ignore any other incoming calls. I'm always amazed when ppl. in company not only answer the phone, but talk for several minutes -- usually about nothing of consequence at all. It is so damn rude.
BTW, my mobile is always set to silently vibrate, regardless of whether I'm socializing or not.
The knuckles, the horrible knuckles!
(I'm a girl, you know)
My expectation is that few people will respect such ban and nothing happens as the result.
"I think this is much to prefer above legalisation, it like handling animals, make the "right" choise the easy one, and all bad choises unpleasant - As soon as you behave acording to plan, you get the comfort of being left alone and not bothered." See subject.
Member of Orkut? Annoyed with spam?
It's annoying because some idiot is interrupting your film viewing with loud noises. Be assured, i get fucked off if the idiot behind me is having a conversation with his friend just as much as if it were into a mobile phone.
I didn't pay to hear your conversation, i paid to hear the fucking film.
Swap film with anything else to your taste.
It's like being rodeo'd when your with a prostitute.
Sure everybody has to work for a living, but what if your job was simply to spew untestable statements about the perceptions of other people. Then you would be Jakob Nielsen. Those who can, do. Those who cannot, tell us they can and take money from us like those who can. But Nielsen leaves me holding an empty sack.
That's why I'm barred from ever owning a cell phone.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Cellphones are really just tools used by self-important yuppies to announce their progress through life to anyone in the surrounding area, to make any moronic schlub look like they have SOMETHING important going on their lives and they provide a convenient "leash" for employers to put on their employees.
The annoying factor of people talking on their virtually-invisible handfree earbuds is offset by the humorousness. Sometimes my workplace looks like a loony bin with a bunch of people milling about apparently talking to some unseen spirit. The self-conscious always have their fingers to the bud so they look like foreign news correspondents, but still making it clear they are NOT crazy.
...those inconsiderate dolts that talk on the cell while driving. You know the ones, driving half on the road, half on the shoulder.......
"Speakerphones might be an answer, but I don't think so."
Please God, no. I live in Dubai, where people are starting to bellow into their Nokia bricks in various languages, including when sitting in the cinema. It's awful!
As for speaking loudly, nine times out of ten there's no need to do that nowadays with today's phones.
usually, people here text messages rather than call because it is much cheaper. but there are instances wherein people talk loudly during conversations that is quite annoying. another is the ring tone (the regular beeps, unless it is a polyphonic one or even a wav or mp3 playing,) it's quite annoying for some. but given that almost many people have phones, only a few of them are irritating.
:)
to reduce this, i have suggestions to the mobile phone makers.
1. allow for a feedback. the phone should instead allow for sounds picked up from the microphone to loop to the speaker. this will make people talk softer. generally, i talk much louder too on the cellphone than the telephone. i guess it is much of an instinct because i was used to using the telephone way before mobile phones so my body adjusted automatically.
2. there should be an auto alert. the phone will detect the ambient sound and if it is too noisy, the volume will be higher and vibrates. but if you are in a much quiet room, it will automatically lower the alert tones (like alarms, rings, sms and mms alerts.)
3. invent a way wherein the phone picks up a signal that it should work in silent mode only. establishments can put a transmitter so phones in the area automatically switches to silent.
john
Live your life each day as if it was your last.
This issue came to the forefront with Stanley Milgram's "shocking" experiment on authority, where he was trying to find out why people followed unethical orders, vis-a-viz WWII and the Holocaust. You may recall from Psych 101 that Milgram set up an experiment in which an unsuspecting victim thought he or she was shocking someone for incorrectly answering questions. I know a bit about this because I worked on Milgram's archived papers. (Some people forget that in the actual experiment, the shocks were a hoax).
Anyway, what occured to me is that reality/prank shows like Scare Tactics etc. go way beyond Milgram's experiment. I assume the only way these episodes get broadcast is that the victim, after the prank is revealed, ends up signing releases, probably in exchange for payment. But the initial trauma/annoyances the victim experiences are not consented to until afterwards. It seems like the media doesn't operate under the same ethical assumptions that science is burdened by. Offtopic, but something that occured to me reading this.
Please, give credit to whom it is due. Both the original study (requires an account) and the article linked to Slashdot state that the study was committed by Andrew Monk, Jenni Carroll, Sarah Parker and Mark Blythe (From University of York). Nielsen merely summarizes the study in his own article.
- You're only hearing half the conversation
- They generally have a tendency to speak louder than they would if they were speaking to someone face to face.
I find that (1) is the key point here. If you can hear the other side of the conversation it just becomes another bit of background noise.Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
The problem as I have seen it is that folks talking on cell phones are concentrating on the other end of the conversation more than they are on their surroundings - in a very real sense they are no longer *here*, but *there*.
When two people are in the same place and are talking, they are still *here*, paying some degree of attention to their surroundings. Even if each person is only paying half-attention to their surroundings, two half-attentions add up to something like a whole attention. If the restaurant/train/bus/movie theater/national park they are in gets quiet, one or the other of them may notice and they may get quiet.
But in a cell conversation (or two-way radio, to be fair), the person who is physically *here* is only half-paying attention. If it gets quiet, he probably won't notice half the time, and the other person isn't there to catch it either. RESULT - YOU GET THE MORON SHOUTING BECAUSE HE ISN'T PAYING ATTENTION.
This is also why yapping on the phone is so bad when driving - you are no longer *here*, behind the wheel, you are *there*, in the movie theater with your buddy. And you may just miss the fact that the light turned red, and your buddy isn't going to say "HOLY SHIT STOP !"
I suppose one way to correct this problem would be to allow bystanders to shoot cellphone users with a paintball gun, but only after having held the cell user in their sights for 5 seconds. Thus cell users would have to pay more attention to their surroundings - "... and then we can offshore the service department and GOTTA GO BYE <click>"
www.eFax.com are spammers
That reminds me of the time I was at the IETF and everyone was playing 'who has the koolest new gadget'. Jeff Schiller was showing off his shortwave band radio the size of a matchbox, someone else had got an iPaq to run Linux, the next guy had a Zaurus running PocketPC, then this dude starts making a phone call without a phone.
The trick was subcutaneous implants, one set under the jaw bone which is a good sound conductor, practically a wave guide pointed to the ear. The second set was on the back of his hand for dialing.
Later in the evening the guy asked us to look after his laptop while he went to the mens room. We thought nothing of it until a few beers later we were wondering where he had gone.
So I go and find him in the bathroom. He is bent over the toilet bowl with a roll of bog roll up his butt. At this point I'm thinking that he has been mugged. "Hey are you ok?" I ask. "Yes I'm just waiting for a fax".
Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
Quite the reverse -- these days, a plain ringtone is unique! Everyone else has stupid annoying beepy tunes.
It's a shame, because there's lots of scope for sounds that are distinctive and recognisable but not annoying. I've tried lots of alarm sounds on my PDA, so I know what works for me. For example, the original Star Trek communicator chirp is great, not because it's geeky, but because it's extremely easy to hear but also very discreet. Lots of other short, sharp sounds work just as well.
And yet phones are stuck with stupid annoying beepy tunes. [fx: sigh]
(Of course, there's plenty of choice -- if you don't like the stupid annoying beepy tune, you can always choose... another stupid annoying beepy tune!)
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The obvious reason people might be getting annoyed: the side-listener is forced to participate in a social situation in which s/he is being excluded. The effect is similar to being snubbed.
It seems like a good portion of the responses seem to be complaining about how annoying those loud cell phone conversations are.
If you read the article, you would know that people tended to report cell-phone conversations as annoyingly loud, even when conducted at the same volume as normal conversations. So this appears to be a perceptual problem, not an actual problem with a loud person.
Of course, Im sure all these people would swear up and down that the people they hear on the cell phones really are loud! But it's probably just an illusion.
'Respect for those around you'? Gosh, what a stupid, outdated, old-fashioned concept. Move out of the dark ages, buddy, and get with the times! Only losers show respect these days. How are they gonna respect you if you don't treat 'em like dirt?
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Im just not cool i guess but i just cant stand ring tones, give me a damn ring ring or get the #### away from me.
And who also don't mind disrupting other people's quiet, considerate calls or text messages. Which may be dangerous and/or illegal, and is certainly just as inconsiderate as the person you're aiming for.
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I disagree because it becomes so much more fun to engage in the conversation.
Once the caller or callee makes it clear that the conversation is none of your business, just retort saying that by yapping so audibly on the phone in the restaurant/at the movies/whatever, they MADE it your business.
It's truely the "Yeah. Uh-huh. Oh really ? Uh-huh. OK. No. No, I don't think so. Uh-huh. Oh, yeah, totally." phone 'conversations' that get on my nerves most.
As for ringtones, they're not so bad. You 'need' them to be different if you want to be sure that's your phone ringing. I do sincerely encourage people to use the 'crescendo' ring volume option, though.
My girlfriend's mom has got to have the loudest cellphone ever. We could hear it as we were walking out to the car at the street!
(And then she complains about a T.V. being 'too loud' when the dialogue is barely audible. Go fig.)
Drat and double drat those typos. :-(
Omnis amans amens
I picked up a USB hookup for my phone at radioshack for 20 dollars and put on some midi files. My phone now plays "Who can it be now" when someone calls and "Message in a bottle" when I get a text message. I'm so clever.
I'll tell you another point of view as to why cell phones are more annoying than face-to-face conversations. Because they're an _extra_ annoyance.
I find face-to-face conversations disruptive too, but... I can't expect people not to talk to each other, when they're travelling together. (I can, however, expect that they keep the volume down.) It always happened, it always will. Even back when people travelled in horse pulled carts, they talked to each other.
Cell phones, however, just bring an extra annoyance that just wouldn't be there without them. All those people having loud 30 minute long phone conversations on the bus, would have shut the fsck up if they didn't have cell phones. If it wasn't for cell phones, I'd only have the noise from those talking face to face, but as it is now I _also_ have the extra noise from those retards with cell phones.
Or when I'm at work. I already have enough disruption from people who obviously love to chat to each other more than they like to work. Either that, or some of them are actually paid to just walk around and talk to everyone about what they did for easter. Now throw the phones into the mix too. And by Odin, behold: the lout who just spent 2 hours straight talking about his vacation in the middle of the office, now spends an extra hour talking on the cell phone about it. Hello? I'm trying to bloody concentrate on writing a program, you know.
Briefly: It's not a new problem, it's just a new factor that multiplies an existing one. And it's not that I want to listen in, it's that I don't want you disturbing my peace in the first place, thank-you-very-much.
It's also that cell phones bring this problem in new places where the old one didn't exist. E.g., it was customary for most people to shut up or whisper in a movie theater. The others have paid to see the fscking movie, not to listen to your conversation. However, people calling don't know you're in a movie theater.
The same goes for team meetings, presentations, etc. People who wouldn't have been rude enough to start having their own side conversation in the middle of the presentation... now have cell phones ringing instead.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
websites suffer from poor interface design? wow, who knew?
flash can be annoying when overused on the web? you're a genius!
people are annoyed at listening to cell phone coversations in public? what an incredible insight!
i'd say the name of his site should be 'luseIt'
I have a cell phone, a motorola V60i, no polyphonics, no color, no internet (beyond basic SMS text messaging). the rings i have:
"Ring...Ring" a basic digital style ring, used for everyone
"Uh Oh" (plays something out of an old mystery serial, very simple) used to ID calls from the parents (naturally)
"Bombs away" (kinda self explanatory) used to ID LAN party buddies.
When I go to the movies or theater, I LEAVE THE PHONE IN THE CAR.
if someone needs me, they can leave a message on voice mail, there is such a thing as being incommunicado, which sadly has been lost these days. If i want to call someone, i will on my own accord. In addition, if i do carry the phone and still dont want to be activly bugged, i rig for silent running.
When I'm in the cave (3 boxes, a cable modem and landline) i'm available, when i'm out, i'm out.
Logistical Chaos Officer http://www.slagg.org - LAN Gaming in Sarasota FL,USA
It's bad enough having the ring and the semi-shouted conversations, but the freaking "over" beep just kills me. People have no class at all using them in a restaurant. People wouldn't bring a CB radio...this is different?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Novel idea: Put the damned thing on vibrate.
Please. I spent the better part of 2 years commuting to NYC from CT. THE most annoyign part of my commute was when some ignoratn, inconsiderate asshole would decide he or she was welcome to broadcast their conversation for all to hear, regardless of the subject. In fact, one morning, I nearly got into a fist fight with some arrogant fucker from Greenwich who repeatedly ignored requests from not only me, but other passengers to keep quiet. It escalatedf to the point where he got off the phone pretty quickly.
The train (or bus or whatever) is a place commuters like to relax, sleep or read a paper in peace. It only takes one jackass to throw courtesy out the window to irritate others around them.
Hell, I made sure my phone was on vibrate every time I was on the train and only answered the phone if it was really important. Otherwise, my caller could wait for me to call them back. Again, most commuters don't understand this concept that no one wants to hear a high-pitched ring at 7:00 in the morning when they are asleep.
I don't know about china, but I have some first hand experience with Eastern Europe. It's a different culture, all right.
To put it mildly, the main "cultural difference" is that there it's ok to be an annoying f*ck to those around you. If it doesn't involve cell phones, it involves talking way too loudly, having an extremely loud party in a densely packed block of flats, etc. And if someone doesn't like it, fsck them, it's not your problem. Extreme individualism was pretty much _the_ way to survive communism, and the poverty that came with it.
Now to get back to your point, methinks the same must apply to China, then.
Sorry, no matter how much I want to find it an excuse, there is _no_ bloody way to say that it ought to be socially acceptable to talk loudly on the phone in a movie theatre. I went there to see and _listen_ to the bloody movie, not to hear a dozen retards talking on their phone. I don't care if it's face-to-face or on the phone. Just shut the fsck up. I've paid to listen to the actors, not to you.
It's not overreacting, it's not shunning "an obnoxious show of money", it's merely asking that you show at least some minimal respect to your fellow humans. All I'm asking is that you let me watch the bloody movie, that's all.
So again: what's different in the West is that people have learned to give each other at least some minimal respect. Whole systems of social customs have existed for the sole reason of allowing people to live without getting on each other's nerves every two minutes.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
100 chf? Here, it's GBP1,000 (about US$1800) for being caught using a handheld phone whilst driving. Over in the UK it's only GBP30 (US$55) which is hardly a deterrent.
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Sure they make an annoying ringing sound, beep at me - this isn't a new problem with cellphones - I hate normal phones in this respect too.
The thing which really pisses me off is that it's always a convenient excuse to pick up and utterly ignore the person they were just talking to.
You're buisy talking to somone, or playing a game of cards with a friend... "beep beep beep", then half an hour later they return, "beep beep beep", all the while they tap away at thier bloody phone, they're a great way to waste OTHER peoples time.
Text messaging is just as annoying as people talking on phones, people sit there and hide thier blasted phones under the desk in classes/lectures and sit there making an annoying tapping sound to distract you for hours.
You might imagine I really hate cellphones, and you'd be right... they're the most annoying thing ever invented.
Mod parent up as troll. He is karma whoring and recycling, with the help of anti-slash.org.
Make sure this guy never gets mod points.
I swear one day I'm going to make anti-anti-slash.org
If you'll notice, your regular landline phone supplies feedback of your voice through the earpiece. In the telephone industry this is called sidetone. I've never figured out why cell phones don't do that as well. Without the expected sidetone feedback, people tend to talk louder since they are not getting the feedback that they are accustomed to. "Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
One theory I have as to why people speak so loud when using mobile phones is the microphone placement on a lot of them.
On many of the small non-flip phones, the microphone ends up being way up near the middle of your cheek, about four inches from your mouth. So even if it's a sensitive microphone, there is a certain psychological tendancy to speak loud since the mike is farther away.
Another problem with this design is the necessarily sensitive microphone picks up pretty much every ambient sound around you, so the caller can hear your environment and you also have to talk loudly to compete any noise in the vicinity.
The solution? Flip phones, which put the microphone right at your mouth like when using a conventional (non-wireless) phone. You can speak softly and know the microphone is picking you up, and it's much easier to reject ambient sounds.
Of course, the cheapest phones will never be the flip-designs, so we'll have people yelling for a while...
-Z
But it's really the polite thing to do. I get in meetings a lot of the time, and my wife is a D.A. and spends half the day in court. We don't call each other unless it's really life-and-death, what we do is to SMS the other saying "call me, problems at Lucas' school" or, better yet, "don't forget to bring groceries", "I'll be home at 19h00", stuff like that.
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
This already exists in several countries in Europe.
One or two cars in an entire long-distance train is usually marked as a quiet car.
The only thing that is needed to enforce silence is a sticker saying that cell phones, radios, and any other noise is not allowed. People usually follow these rules - so there is no need for a jammer!
Most times when I am in the crosswalk with a 'walk' signal and I get cut off by a car, I look up and the driver is on a cell phone. I almost got hit by a car backing out of a parking space.. the driver was on a cell phone. He pulled out quickly and out of nowhere after idling for some time. After jumping out of the way, he drove past me with no more than a 'yeah sorry, whatever' hand gesture so as not to interrupt his conversation. He looked like a fat CEO, and was driving a Lincoln. There were a lot of these "privileged" types in the town I lived in before 2002. I think it's inconsiderate people that give cell phones a bad rap. I admit, they still irk me, but also admit, the annoyance is a stereotype I can't seem to kick. I also think people do tend to talk louder. This isn't as malicious, since they probably don't realize they are being obnoxious. A lot of people who talk loud on cell phones, can't stand people who talk loud on cell phones. Still, it comes accross as inconsiderate, so it [eeves me.
If you've do a lot of walking in a large city, you're likely to come across a few insane people shuffling around, yelling or mumbling. It's an uncomfortable situation, feeling somewhat threatened and also sorry for the nut's situation. The initial impression of seeing someone on a cellphone is much the same: here's some looney talking to the air, is he going to attack me?
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``Often, when a cell phone goes off, everyone is pulling their phone out of their pocket, thinking Is it mine?''
Wear headphones. Only you hear your phone going off, you can have the most annoying tune in the world and it still won't annoy others. Next on the list of annoyances is thinking people have to SPEAK VERY LOUDLY in their phones, which is even true in many cases.
I am for text messaging - imagine a usable keyboard and a permanent (e.g. pay for traffic, not time) IP connection. Just chat away anywhere, anytime, without ever disturbing anyone. I'm sure it can be done, it's probably just more lucrative for telcos to lock people into voice communication.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
The bad part is the loud speakers that really dont need a phone in the first place.
I disagree -- I think I buy into the article pretty strongly, which says that volume is a minimal issue. I've tried paying attention to what irritates me about cell phones when someone is conversing on one, and my feelings click with what the study says.
The problem is that normally, we respond when someone says something to us. Our brain is cued by it.
The request-for-attention pattern this follows is someone saying something near us, followed by a period of silence as they wait for our response. As the period of silence increases, the likelihood that the message was directed at us (and we should respond and haven't) increases (hence the common pattern of someone saying something, stopping, and two seconds later someone looking up and saying "uh, did you say something to me" -- the "request for attention" sequence was sent).
We are pretty good about ignoring conversation -- sitting in a crowded lunchroom, it's easy to let background noise fade into the background.
The problem is that cell phone speakers follow our brain's "I am requesting your attention" almost exactly. So we're sitting here uncomfortably having someone grab our attention every two seconds or so. It's extremely disruptive when you're trying to think about something else. The only real fix is to start ignoring people that *are* trying to get our attention, which isn't great either.
I would say that the primary issue is that we need a sensory input that would allow us to determine when someone is talking on the phone. Then our brain can learn to distinguish between "cell phone speaker -- ignorable" and "someone trying to get your attention".
I think that a good solution would be to provide (surprise, more noise) a buzz, a sort of masked noise from the phone. When the person on the other end of the phone is talking, we get an unintelligable but audible buzz. It would be crucial that (a) the buzz not be an annoying annoying, (b) the buzz not be easily picked up by microphones (especially cell phones, so that feedback doesn't occur -- a filter is necessary), (c) that cell phone manufacturers standardize on such a buzz sound, so that people talking near each other on different cell phones don't interfere -- this would also allow people to more quickly learn to identify cell phones. I think that cell phone disruptiveness is largely a technical problem, not a social problem (though people talking in movie theaters still require a swift kick to the nuts).
May we never see th
Every single cell phone and operator that I know of in my poor 3rd-world country has caller ID. Why, oh, Why, Why? Why would I call the same cell phone twice in a row? If the callee just delayed in answering the phone, s?he will call back. If he is in a conference, movie theather, meeting or other impeditive (to answer the phone) plane, s?he will call back when possible. If matters are of urgency, send a SMS.
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
I live in an area where there are several languages that are in use. While I am tri-lingual myself, I usually will notice conversations that take place that are not in a language that I can understand (the keyword being notice). Mind you, since I won't understand either party involved, I will usually dismiss it quickly as noise.
I also notice people who converse with me while plodding around with their PDA, tablet PC, etc. (especially when I can't see it for myself).
The cell phone is probably the worst case. As you only hear the one party conversing, your brain can only interpret part of the conversation which increases the annoyance factor. What makes them even more annoying is that their mobility allows them to go anywhere.
Cell phones become particularly annoying in academic atmospheres. I personally dont like taken final exams only to be bothered by the person sitting next to me getting phone calls from his mother, brother, sister, or girlfriend.
..my 2 cents.
Also if anybody has noticed cell phones take all prescience over any other form of conversation. When in a face to face conversation and someones cell phone rings, it's the end of the convo as you know it. Cell phones are great for keeping up communication between people and have really turned long distance into a thing of the past. Their is no need for "cool" ringers and such, you should just use the tool for exactly what it is... a tool, to keep in touch, up to date, yet the tool should not interfere with everything else around you.
People like to hate cell phone users. It's the current fashion.
Here's a few more examples:
1) Ace of Base
2) Vanilla Ice
Remember these performers? Everyone was singing along, then it became fashionable to hate them. Obviously people liked them at first, the albums soared to the top of the charts.
3) Barney.
Insanely popular. Nothing really wrong with the show. Yet people like to hate Barney.
It's fashion. Be a cell phone hater and become the envy of your friends!
Close. The problem is that your system requires the users to actively make an effort to do things properly. I don't see that ever working, simply because people are lazy, and social pressure should only be used as a last ditch problem.
The issue is that of the protocol.
When a cell phone is called, it should enter the ringing state. At that point, one of two buttons can be hit -- "accept -- pending talking" and "reject". Currently, I believe that people usually just turn off their phone to do a "reject", so that much functionality is in place. The protocol should allow a "accepted, but cannot talk yet state". At that point, the person with the cell can extricate themselves from whatever situation they're in, and can find a quiet place to handle the call. They'd then hit the "ready to talk" button.
This could interoperate with older, non-compliant phones by sending a text message (or brief audio clip saying "hold on") and then either terminating the call and calling back when "ready to talk" is hit, or simply opening the connection and leaving the phone speakers muted after the initial clip) until "ready to talk" is hit.
May we never see th
I believe if an American lived in Sweden for a while (a country with one of the highest mobile phone penetration rates), they would quickly get used to hearing phones ringing and people talking on them all the time, without feeling necessarily annoyed. It's the constant reinforcement by others in US society that mobile phones are in fact extremely annoying that maintains this perception.
Agreed. I was without a cell phone for a while when I was working for the cable company in a particularly out-of-the-way Pennsylvania (U.S.) village, where cell phone coverage was so poor that almost nobody had them. When I would go back to civilization (read: anywhere but that village), I noticed myself getting irritated at the people talking on their phones. However, once I got my current job (a month ago) and started up a new service contract, cell phone usage by anyone and everyone was just something I kinda brushed off as a fact of life, just like I did when I had had my previous phone.
Did you ever notice that the people most pissed off about cell phones are typically the ones who don't have them? It could be the other way around (they don't have them because they hate them), but I think it's more based in envy.
For the record, I a) move to someplace isolated when I talk on the phone, but answer before I get there; b) dislike SMS texting because it's unusable when communicating with non-tech-savvy folks; c) love my ringtones (3G Upload kicks ass) and have a unique one; and d) turn down/off the ringer when appropriate (movie theater, meeting) and not when it's merely convenient (I don't want to be bothered).
"Why Subscribe?" Good question...
Most people are just annoyed by assholes, as you say.
Anyone who genuinely believes cell phones and SUVs are a problem is probably just jealous. They think that life is more difficult for them because someone else has something they don't have. It's class envy motivated out of feelings of helplessness.
i think cell users talk so loud because most mobiles don't "echo" the speaker's own words back to them. when you use a landline, you hear your own voice through the handset, providing confirmation that the other party can hear it, too. none of the cells that i've used have that feature, so it's like talking into a black hole, and you tend to speak louder than you need to.
"You want a toe? I can get you a toe by three o'clock... with nail polish."
A good way to make them stop is to pretend you are a crazy person, and supply the other half of the conversation yourself.
Imagine:
ring-ring
Them, answering phone: Oh hi, how are you, how did last night go?
You (very loudly): I am fine. Last night was a real blast!
I guarantee they will immediately begin speaking a lot more quietly!!
A large city in Denmark was quite plagued by dog shit on the sidewalks despite every effort until the terds started sprouting little Danish flags on toothpicks during the night, throughout the city. After a few weeks of seeing a flag in each and every terd, people stopped leaving their dog's shit on the streets and sidewalks.
It's worth a thought...
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
It would encourage people to use the vibrate mode.
From the article:
We must also consider those who are getting a "user experience" whether they want it or not. This question will become more important as user interfaces leave the screen behind and become physical and/or mobile.
Excuse me? What's next, I can't wear loud clothes because they might annoy somebody?
Congratulations, we're officially a nation of whining little sissies.
It's OK to outlaw cell phones because somebody might be exposed to them and be annoyed. It's censorship to outlaw nudity on TV during prime time just because somebody might be exposed to it and be annoyed.
Make up your minds, people.
Remember, every time you hear that default Nokia ring tone, that's the sound of market share. ;-)
I have a different theory as to why people talk more loudly on cell phones.
On a regular telephone you can hear yourself coming out of the speaker end just a little bit. I don't know if this is because your voice is travelling through the hollow plastic, or if the telephone system is actually designed to do that. Either way, how loud you are hearing yourself compared to the other person helps to give you some feedback into how loudly you actually need to be talking.
On a cellphone, your voice just kind of travels off into nowhere. You don't hear yourself at all coming from the phone. Hence, you feel the need to talk louder, and louder, until you realize that , yes, you are talking loud enough.
This is what happens to me all the time. I always feel that little "urge" that I'm not talking loud enough, and so I sometimes try to actively talk below my comfort level of loudness.
The absolute most annoying thing about mobile phones is that they make you immediately accessible 24/7 no matter where you go. When it comes to friends and family, that isn't necessarily bad. When it comes to work it can (and often does) become absurd. With today's communication possiblities it is next to impossible to get away from work. Sure, you can always not answer, but then you still have the stress of knowing that your employer is trying to get to you for some reason. Very, very annoying.
Nielsen's prediction that there will be a backlash against cellphone usage unless the manufacturers make the phones less obtrusive to bystanders is merely an advertisement for his services. While cellphones are annoying in other people's hands, they are becoming indispensible in our own. I doubt anybody in the industry is worried about the noise pollution of their customers.
QAExpress: Solid bug tracking for you. Graphs and reports for your PHB.
Interesting study, but it might have been more interesting if they'd added a third conversation -- an individual alone talking to him or her self.
Neilson draws the conclusion that cell phone conversations are more annoying because it's harder to tune out half a conversation. If that's true, then it would be harder to tune out an insane person talking to himself (which is the impression I still get from most people using cell phones in public -- especially the ones with ear pieces).
How is a cell phone conversation any different from someone talking on a normal phone? Or talking on a cordless phone out in your yard on on your patio? Do people get annoyed when people in their own home pick up the phone and carry on a conversation? If not then why do they get annoyed when a stranger is having a conversation on a cell phone in public?
I don't think its the cell phone so much as its people feeling left out. They want to be nosey but can't because they only hear one side. What if 2 people were talking face to face and one was using sign language and the other was speaking out loud. Would the be as annoying to other people around them as a cell phone?
I hope these people aren't being paid for this crap research.
"As the period of silence increases, the likelihood that the message was directed at us (and we should respond and haven't) increases (hence the common pattern of someone saying something, stopping, and two seconds later someone looking up and saying 'uh, did you say something to me' -- the 'request for attention' sequence was sent)."
I agree. Plus, people who are talking on cell phones are usually looking at something, quite possibly you. I've gotten fooled when someone has a headset for their cell, starts a conversation, and is looking directly at me.
Maybe people need glasses that tint when their cell phone is in use, so they don't appear to be looking at anyone.
naturally cel phones conversations are harder to tune out than 2 people talking. hearing only one person talk triggers recognition of a possible mental problem... a person talking to themselves. It's hard to tune something like that out.
"It takes a very long time to count to 2 in binary." ~'Fourlegged'
If you are going to mod me down, then have the cajones to state why. Coward!!!
Yes, that is probably what I am, but I dislike seeing people on cell phone at times because my initial reaction is: Can't you handle SILENCE for even a few minutes?
I am talking about people who are, for example, talking on their cell phone the entire time they are walking around the supermarket. No, they aren't asking what the other person would like to eat. They are saying "Yeah." "What are you watching." "I like vanilla." Meaningless drivel. Are people so afraid of themselves these days that they can't even walk through the supermarket "alone"?
What Would Sutekh Do?
That's driven me close to homicide.
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
While speaking volume certainly isn't the only "annoyance factor" of people talking on cell phones in public, it certainly bugs the crap out of me. So why do people feel the need to talk louder on cell phones than regular phones? The answer, I think, is the lack of what is called "sidetone".
My understanding is, way back in the early days of telephones, the old-time equivalent of user-interface experts noticed that people controlled their speaking volume better if they could here a bit of their own voice through the ear piece. If you pick up a modern land-line phone today, press one digit, and speak into the silence, you'll still hear your own voice back in your ear. Now, unplug the phone from the wall and speak into it. Notice the difference?
I can't speak for every cell phone on the market, but every one I've ever used lacks this "sidetone". You don't hear your own voice in the ear piece, so you don't have that natural indication of your speaking volume. I'm sure this is done for power-consumption purposes, but it's the main reason I really don't like to talk to people at length on my cell phone. I would guess this is why people unconsciously speak louder on cell phone than wired phones.
(As a correlary, I'd wager that the reason this seems to be more of an American problem is because we still use wired phones so extensively. In the U.S. most landline calls are still cheaper than cellular calls. [In most places local calls are flat-rate, and long distance is going that way rather quickly. In most parts of the world though, all calls are billed by the minute.] I know in much of the world the opposite is the case.)
On another note, I think an interesting comparison study would be to compare how annoying it was to have a face-to-face conversation where the actors were speaking a foreign language. Or even have one speak English and one speak Sindarin (or whatever). That might shed light on the "can only hear one side of the conversation" issue.
"It's striking, however, that mobile-phone conversations are judged more negatively than loud conversations."
Well, they obviously can control that variable by simply exposing a control group to the PRESENCE of a mobile phone, and gauge the inherent negative reaction. They should have done the study with two people talking but one just HOLDING a mobile phone.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
The answer is to rebroadcast the speakkers own voice back into the earpiiece with more than suffecient amplification.
It is simply a afct that we adjust our own voices until we can hear them - in a quiet room we speak quietly - Or better - if you have ever spken to someone wearing good isolation earphons you will know quite well that dampening the audio response - directly translates into a shout.
An ideal phone would have a well extended microphone, noise cancelling and suffecient earpiece feedback.
even more ideal - would be situational awareness - in a loud room - play the souza march at the top of your lungs and vibrate - but in a quiet room - consider using a much quieter ring. - tricky albeit when the quieter room is only quiet because the phone is buried in a purse - but worth the effort on the whole.
BTW - an ultrasonic ring and an echo detect can determine the volumetric qualities of the room - which could resolve the apparent vs. real ambient noise.
AIK
I think that the theory that the fact that bystanders hear only half the conversation is a great conclusion from the data, as others have already said. The study had as one of its goals trying to figure out how mobile phone manufacturers could make their products less annoying and intrusive. Here's an idea: instead of using mobile phones as a traditional handset, make them all speakerphones. As long as the volume is at a normal level, this should be less annoying to bystanders as they'll be able to hear both sides of the conversation. (yes, this is a joke)
BEEP!
YOU THERE?
BEEP!
WHERE YOU AT?
BEEP!
THE TRAIN!
BEEP!
WHERE?
BEEP!
THE TRAIN!!!
BEEP!
OH, THE TRAIN!
ARRRRGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
And now, Verizon, Sprint, and Cingular are going to introduce it...
the rest is silence...
licet differant, aequabitur
A colleague of mine once had a sound clip from Monty Python and the Holy Grail for his incoming email notification that would work well as a ringtone...
"THWOK (sound of message bearing arrow piercing soldier's chest), Message for you, Sir! THUD."
They should have compared it to someone having half a conversation, out loud to him/herself.
Overhearing half a conversation is not the same as overhearing an entire conversation.
The above rant was stolen, word-for-word from this Usenet post.
In fact, all of Face the Facts (770331)'s comments are stolen (although most are stolen via the anti-slash.org "database tool".
I actually thought for a moment that Face the Facts (770331) might have an ounce of his own creativity given the above rant -- how reassuring it was to find this was just another copy and paste job.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
...is Jacob Nielsen. Sorry to say that, but being someone who does web design and web related programming for a living I have to say the guy's a complete moron in anything he claims to be an expert in.
The fact that a large bunch of wannabe usability and 'information design' experts hail him as the cream-of-the-web-crop doesn't make things better.
Go ahead and mod me down - it just had to be said.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
I notice if I have trouble hearing someone I tend to speak louder, now mind you I know this makes no difference in whether I will hear better or not but it appears to be natural because I watch others do it, so to me (and in the article) cell phones are annoying for 2 reasons, they seem to take priority in peoples minds over a person in front of them, and the volume of the conversation...since most people seem to have periodic trouble hearing on their phones.
Also the sad thing is that I am the only person I know of that thinks the person I'm talking to in front of me is more important than a phone call (unless its an emergency)everyone else I know stops their conversations with the person in front of them and answers the phone...how many of you do that? (I think it's rude)
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
1. Be sure to talk loudly in restaurants. Laugh raucously. People will be impressed by how much you enjoy your cell phone.
2. In addition to the above, be sure your conversations include intimate, private details about your life. People love hearing about your lanced boil while standing in line to order their food.
3. Even though you talk loudly about the most confidential aspects of your life, be sure to complain often about invasion of privacy.
4. Find the most annoying ring tone available for your phone, then crank it up! Your ring tone says a lot about you and everyone is keenly interested in your personal tastes. Best places to crank up your ring tone: Waiting rooms, church, funerals.
5. Don't turn your phone off when entering the movie theater or your child's music recital. You're an important person, and cannot be out of touch for any period of time. After all, they can catch that movie later on DVD, and it's not like they haven't heard their kid play that stupid song a million times.
6. When possible, always talk while driving. Multitask if possible: If you're female put on your makeup and chat on the cellphone. If you're male, cradle your teensy cellphone in the crook of your neck while making notes. Don't worry about concentrating on your driving. Signaling for lane changes and looking out for pedestrians are over-rated activities anyway.
7. Always choose a plan with "walkie-talkie" mode, if available. Nothing impresses the boss and your coworkers more than to have your wife loudly blurt "What are you doing?" in the middle of a business meeting.
8. Lastly, be sure to get a phone with a built-in digital camera. People love having their pictures taken and plastered all over the internet.
Proverbs 21:19
The problem is that cell phone speakers follow our brain's "I am requesting your attention" almost exactly. So we're sitting here uncomfortably having someone grab our attention every two seconds or so. It's extremely disruptive when you're trying to think about something else. The only real fix is to start ignoring people that *are* trying to get our attention, which isn't great either.
I can see, my friend, that you're not a married man...
[i]Participants even said that the volume of the mobile-phone conversations was more annoying than those that occurred face-to-face, even though the volume was the same, and was controlled by objective measures.[/i]
Clearly bush-league. Any study worth its weight does not have to tell the reader it was objective.
The ethics defense is laughable, if only because its prescence confirms the author's inability to believe his own bullshit.
At least the study can provide a few names to flag of people never to hire or buy stock in a company they start. Unless they refine their bullshitting skills a bit more.
our attention is attracted to someone talking, which is the basic mechanism of socialization, and we are social animals. When we find out that their socialization procedure does not and connot possibly include us, we feel excluded from the social structure.
There is also an attribution error due to that fact that many people use their call phones to be seen and heard using their cell phones: we assume many people are doing so if we don't know better.
They're leaving us out, on purpose, in order to talk to someone else. It pisses us off. We often turn it into something more palatable to complain about, like not paying enough attention when they're driving, which does happen, but the vehemence with wihich it bothers people (and more so those people who are sensitive to social structure) makes it clear that the driving stuff is just an excuse.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
I knew it was by design, too, but had a devil of a time find it (Googling for "auditory + feedback + telephone" returns pages for stuttering therapies). ChrisMaple, below, named the feature: sidetone. Here's a googled a definition of sidetone.
blog
As I type this now, a car alarm is going off outside my apartment.
;-)
It has been on and off for the last half hour.
It's not the alarm, it's the idiot owner who isn't rushing to the alley that bothers me.
I suppose I feel the same about cell's. Pick it up people...
*-PGP Please!-*
There's a bunch of others who are quite happy to take your money.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
create some kind of technology that would send a signal to cell phones to force all cellphones into "vibrate" mode.
install such technologies at enterances of movie theaters, etc.
eh?
Try not to let life get in the way of living.
The other side to the coin is those who take it way too far. I was in the library the other day and I saw the sign very clearly informing me that this was a "No Cell Phone Zone". I whip out my cell phone and set it to vibrate, so that in the event that I get an important call, I can step out of the library and take it. No sooner do I have the phone out of my pocket when I am attacked by a cell phone nazi (CPN)...a conversation ensues:
CPN: [gruffly] You're not supposed to have those on here!
Me: [matter of factly] I know, I'm turning it off right now..
CPN: [frustrated] No, you don't understand..you can't have that on in here!!
Me: [strained] Yes, I know..I saw the sign, and I'm turning it off right now. I had forgotten..
CPN: [proudly] I turn my phone off before I even walk in..
Me: [beginning of an indignancy] Good for you! I forgot..haven't been to the library for a little while. My bad..
CPN: [angrily] YOU CANT HAVE THAT ON IN HERE!
Me: [dumbfounded] Uh...
CPN: You know, you can't even have them on at a gas station anymore!
Me: I have to go now..
Those who can, do. Those who can't, go into business for themselves.
the operative word being later, not repeatedly twenty times in a row.
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
But why doesn't anyone do a perceived annoyance test on Jakob Neilsen?
Weather persons report the expected saturation of rain as a percent. If half the area being reported on is expected to receive rain then they report a 50% chance of rain. Also you can statistically verify such reports over a period of time to determine accuracy.
Back to the topic, people complain about cell phones 'cause they're arrogant. Nothing aggravates arrogant people more than the perception of the promotion of others.
People who like to be the center of attention hate cell phones. People who don't have much money or 'spend it better' hate SUVs. People who don't understand computers hate know-it-all techies. Old people who take pride in their career accomplishments hate young hotshots. I could name a hundred more. It's really just a lot of jealousy and social envy putting wind in the sails of hatred and malice. It will never end, not in a thousand years of human achievement and social progress, but I think you can at least try to see both sides (and there always are two sides).
As the article says, the research was carried out by Andrew Monk, and reported on by Jakob Nielsen.
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
The thing that baffles me is, why all of a sudden does everyone in the seem to have the urgent, pressing need to be in telephone contact with everyone at all times? When did people all of a sudden aquire such important agendas that it is necessary to be either staring at the crappy cell phone display, or walking with the damn thing attached to their heads?
The answer is simple: They DON'T have anything urgent or important 99% of the time. Cell phones fill in gaps of time where people might stop and think, or relax. Like walking through the city back to the train. Relaxing on the bus ride home.
This is why cell phones are annoying. Far be it for me to personally decide what's important to others, but cell phone users, you must ask yourselves: "Is it really necessary for me to be talking on the phone right now?"
The test would be, "Is this a life or death situation?" or "If my wife doesn't know that I'm one train station away, will she file for divorce?" If the answer is "yes," then you should probably throw your cell phone and run.
wow. that actually is a really good idea.
or a necklace, bracelet or something.
hmm!