Cell Phones + Public Transit = Evil?
It may be because I just finished reading Stephen King’s
Cell, but I’m starting to look suspiciously at my cell phone.
If it rings when I’m on the bus, I always try to keep the conversation short and low volume, because I assume the guy next to me doesn’t especially want to know when and where I’m meeting my wife for dinner.
One day last week, I watched in awe as a guy at the Montlake freeway bus stop bellowed into his cell phone over the roar of cars flying by at 60 MPH. He was simultaneously pacing up and down and jackhammering a piece of gum between his teeth. God save me, I thought, from sitting next to him.
Fly Girl reminds us that for awhile now, the FAA has been mulling whether to allow cell phone use on airplanes above 10,000 feet. By me, this is one of the worst ideas in modern transportation history. I can just see myself being trapped for seven hours on a flight to Boston next to the guy who needs to scream into his cell phone over the airplane engine noise.
Then again, this is why I have a pair of noise-cancelling headphones for my iPod.
Does anyone think that allowing cell phone conversations on a plane is a good idea? For that matter, do cell phone conversations on buses bother you?
The way I see it, rude people are rude people, whether or not they have a cell phone in their hands. Take one thing away, and they’ll find some other way to annoy you.
I’ve always thought they should make one booth in a plane for cell phone usage. You get a 5-10 minute limit and it you can only need it if you have a legit reason. Not, “I need to call my doggy Snuggles and tell him I miss him.”
I don’t mind cell phone conversations on the bus, but then, I’m really nosy, and find what other people talk about fascinating. Sometimes, I get bummed when I don’t get to hear the end of a story.
On Amtrak, they allow cell phone usage, but ask that people either keep conversations short and quiet, or if a longer conversation is required, to use the area inbetween the cars. It seems to work to keep phone conversations quiet. The group of four women sitting near me were louder than any phone conversation would have been, so it’s sure not a guarantee for a quiet train ride.
I treat cell phone conversations in public as if they were public conversations–fair game for cheerful comments and factual corrections. The cell phone users give me dirty looks until I explain that their conversations are PUBLIC. Then their eyes widen a bit, as if they have finally realized that people can hear them. There is no cone of silence around a cell phone user. Yes, that reference dates me quite a bit…
I agree, I LOVE listening in on others cellphone conversations, but I too am a busy-body. So much so that I turn down my TV when I hear my neighbors arguing. Is that wrong?
I just left a tech company where accepted workplace behavior involved answering your cell phone in any situation. (There was even a legend about someone who was reprimanded for failing to answer her cell phone when she was in the restroom.)
I suspect that quite a bit of cell phone obnoxiousness comes from people who transfer this workplace behavior to semi-public locations (restaurants, bus, etc.). I refer to them as “semi-public” because the restaurant, or the bus, could institute cell phone rules on the behalf of other patrons (and, thankfully, some restaurants do.)
As for airplanes, I noticed recently how physically uncomfortable and restless I get on long flights in cramped seating (and I’m a relatively small person). I can only imagine how large people must feel (like the woman in my row on a flight from Florida last week — she was so wide she overlapped the arm of her seat by several inches). Add cell phone users to this mix, and flight attendants will spend more time breaking up fist fights than pouring coffee.
It’s bearable, even amusing, to be on a short bus ride with someone bellowing the details of their romantic lives (blissfullly unaware of how loud they are). Take to air the with one of the boors? No way.
Perhaps the airlines are planning to charge extra for seats in a “no cell phones allowed zone.” That, I’d pay for.
And it will be interesting to see how the cell phone bellowing issue is handled in first class, where many people have shelled out big bucks for sleeper seats and expect to snooze for the whole flight.
Awful Metro cell phone story: I once sat next to a guy who was sharing his daughter’s birth story in painful, excruciating and unnecessarily LOUD detail over his cell phone. I thought I was going to die. When he got off, about fourteen old ladies hissed “FOR SHAME!” If I had to sit next to that guy on an airplane I’d probably find a way to knock his phone into his drink or something.
I’m a platinum-level frequent flyer, and end up in first class fairly often. If anything, behavior in this regard will be worse up there. It will seem much worse, however, in coach, where your neighbor’s hot breath fills your pink-and-shell-like even without the cell phone to holler into. I shudder at the prospect.
Hopefully, it’ll be too expensive (you’ll be logging into a carrier franchised by the airling, I think, and not using your home cell network).
my idea for this is for airlines to charge more for cell phone friendly flights (or less for cell phone free flights). it is an opportunity that people obviously want, but it shouldn’t come as a hindrance to those of us without cell phones or who might not want to hear everything about our row-mates’ lives.
personally, one of the worst parts about flying is as soon as you land and everyone pops open their cell phones and calls the people they’ll be seeing in a matter of minutes. a whole plane load of “okay, we’re taxiing now, be there in 2 minutes, right when you were expecting us.”
so how much extra would cell phone users be willing to pay in order to use their phones in flight? i’m thinking along the lines of 15-25% of the ticket cost. or a flat fee?
working the other way, i’d be more than willing to pay that much for a non-cell phone flight, but i think the airlines would make more money charging for the ‘cell’ flights.
Cell phone (ab)users: unconscious, disrespectful, discourteous and obnoxious. Public transportation and areas; doctors’ offices; theaters; restaurants; checkout lines; in their own dream world walking in the street; and causing accidents when they “drive.” Name the place; they are there. Unable to bear silence or be by, or with, themselves for a moment. Totally oblivious to—and inconsiderate of—their neighbors.
Cell phones will become as ubiquitous in airplanes (just wondering how much the cell phone lobby paid for this one) as they are in those places where we are all held captive. These (ab)users ought to be relegated to—and locked in—their own soundproof area, compelled to suffer one another’s inanities. For the entire flight.
I, and hopefully those who share these feelings, will give our business to the airlines that have the sense to ban them.
Emanuel Molho
New York, NY