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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."
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
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.
"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!
At least you can make fun of them for paying $0.99 for a 50 Cent ringtone.
This is not the greatest sig in the world, this is just a tribute.
Well, there is a "Scary Movie" way to handle that problem ;)
The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
Oh I tried that, but the stain on trousers is so embarassing....
And if you thought that was boring you obviously havn't read my Journal ;-)
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
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
Are folks really that dumb in LA not to turn off the phone, or at the very minimum set it to silent when they go to watch a movie?
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
Text-To-Speech: "Mr. ComboyNeal, telephone for you, Sir" in a husky female voice. Many phones already have loudspeaker abilities and advanced ring tone generation. Use them for good instead of evil.
Money for nothing, pix for free
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-
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.
Hello. HELLO.
I'm writing on slashdot.SLASHDOT
Nah its rubbish
Omnis amans amens
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.
hold on let me get this call...
> Everyone that hears it thinks it's really cool.
I call your bluff on that one.
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.
Maybe it wasn't "Random". Maybe it was somebody who was annoyed by your ring tone and changed it when you were gone. I know I have changed co-workers phone's before. They leave the room and somebody will call them 40 times playing some stupid 80's song. I change the ring tone to "basic". They never notice because the phone only rings when they aren't there. Makes me want to kill them less.
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.
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.
My ringtone is Worf's voice saying, "Captain, incoming message!" It's not to be cool; that's who is really calling.
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.
uh, maybe he is not getting a phone call, maybe he just doesn't want to talk to you
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. :-)
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?
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/
Just once, I want to try this.
Obtain an old 1960s rotary dial telephone, as found in all British households (since at the time, the phone company was the GPO and were the only people to be allowed to connect phones, so the range was extremely limited. It did include the Ericofon though).
Inside the phone, insert the guts of a cheap GSM cell phone. Build some electronics to change the LD pulsing from the rotary dial into something suitable to cause the cellphone to dial. Maybe add an extra button as a 'Send' button for the cell phone. Have the loudspeaker of the phone which the ringtone normally plays through connected to a circuit that rings the phone bell.
Catch the train.
Receive phone call. "Rrrring rring". Pull out old phone from bag, place on table. Lift receiver.
"HI I'M ON THE TRAIN!"
Phone a friend with the rotary dial, too.
Observe looks of fellow passengers.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
``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.
I keep trying to get my wife to ask me if I can talk when she calls my moble. Most times she just start going and doesn't seem to understand I might be coming into traffic. One time she called and I said, "Don't you know I'm in the middle of a dental visit?" (I was in the chair, but the room was empty when the phone rang) She said, "Yes." In order to stay married, I didn't say, "Then why the f&*k did you call me!" I have a long drive home so sometimes I can talk sometimes I can't. When I say, "I can't talk now," she ignores it. I've tried hanging up, but then she says I'm doing it to cut her off. Now I just say, "Do you really want me to die?" That works.
Also, purses prevent the use of vibrators, which really should be mandatory
I find your ideas intriguing.
If you ever decide to run for government, you've got one hell of an interesting platform there.
What ever happened to a plain phone, that rings, vibrates and stores contact information.
Contact information? Vibrate feature? MOBILITY? You kids and your damned newfangled gizmos.
Give me a 30-pound Bell rotary-dialer with a length of RJ-11 coming out the bottom of it, that's a REAL man's phone.
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!!
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...
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."
...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
It's the only cell phone ring tone, besides the default, that I actually respect. There's nothing like walking down the college campus and passing a guy then being startled when the imperial march unexpectedly begins emanating from his body.
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
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.