Moves are afoot to ban it in public places such as pubs and restaurants and it is already banned in many cinemas, theatres and concert halls. Many train lines now only permit it in a few coaches and a number of workplaces have outlawed it altogether.
We could be talking about smoking but could just as easily be talking about mobile phone use. The similarities between the two are increasing, partly due to the common denominator: people and their seeming inability to consider those around them.
We all know the feeling when you are sat in a restaurant, about to tuck into your meal when the couple of the next table light a couple of cigarettes and start puffing away, blowing their smoke across your meal. Is it any less unpleasant if you are trying to have a chat over a nice meal to have some boorish idiot shouting about "what Dave bloody did down the Red bloody Lion last night".
Many of us will vividly remember the feeling of being stuck on a train, pressed up against the window, next to somebody smoking away... and those of you not old enough to will doubtless disagree with the rest of this article. Similarly being on a commuter train next to somebody arranging "what time Marjory is picking up the twins from the nanny" (to balance out any perceived class-bias from the previous 'for instance'.)
Now people are beginning to man a backlash against mobile phone users that will likely lead to further bans. This writer's local pub bans the use of mobile phones after 7pm in the evening - and a welcome addition to the house rules it is, especially with a zero tolerance enforcement policy in place.
A recent poll revealed inconsiderate mobile phone users as a social pariah on a par with the likes of cowboy workmen. A silicon.com poll today revealed UK patience with such individuals has worn thin with 87.7 per cent of respondents saying they would support the jamming of mobile phones in public performance spaces such as cinemas, theatres and concert halls.
Many argue about being on-call, or parents who need to be in constant touch with the baby-sitter, even when in the cinema. The simplest answer is we coped before. Our parents coped.
It's not a life-support machine, it's a mobile phone. If it's switched off you will keep breathing.
Comments
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1. Gareth Williams
Mindless intolerance.
Obviously it is antisocial to use a mobile in any area where there is supposed to be quiet, as it would be to make a noise in any other way. But no one seems to object to two people in a train or restaurant sitting next to each other and talking. So why object to a single person talking on a mobile? I have never understood this. If there is a reason (other than mindless intolerance) can someone please exlain?
2. Richard
One Evening on the Train:
A loud HR type spent the whole journey on her mobile, loudly plotting how to ditch an IT employee without paying compensation.
She kept giving her victim's name. I was strongly tempted to warn him!
3. anonymous
Like cars, it's not the machines, it's the inconsiderate owners. Courteous people will always speak quietly or move away if they must take a call. It's rarely necessary to shout so loud that you disturb others. You can ban use of mobile phones but it's much harder to ban boorish behaviour.
4. Robert Walker
Those cunning Japanese have this licked: signs in all public places encourage mobile users to switch to "manner mode" when traveling on the subways or in cinemas. Instead the 78 million mobile owners surf the net via their phones for thier 2 hour plus commute journeys every day - but not one ring.
5. Jon Martin
If you start to ban mobile phones from public places, you start to negate the point of having them. We love them or we wouldn't buy them. I can deal with the occasional phone going of in a restaurant or pub. Get back to the dark ages if that's what you prefer and I'll light a candle for you...
6. Phil Sharman
Listening to half a conversation can be really annoying for many inquisitive people. Having to listen to couples talking loudly to each other in public places is also annoying. There are some places eg concert halls, where talking at all is inconsiderate. So let's establish a set of social courtesies. Where talking to someone who is present is allowed, talking to someone on the end of a phone is allowed. Where talking is not allowed ... well you get the drift. I'm afraid that ensuring the quality of what we can evesdrop is, however, probably too difficult. Oh .. and yes! Talking more loudly than is necessary is only allowed for senior citizens.
7. anonymous
Mobile phones are here to stay so we may as well just get used to it. Like many, I can't see the problem with using them on trains. Surely this is only a nuisance for people who like to eavesdrop?
If there must be a 'quiet' carriage on a train where phones are banned, then talking to the person next to you should also be banned. Now that would be quite ridiculous wouldn't it?
8. Steve
To "Anonymous consultant from Brussels", Yes, mobile phones ARE here to stay and I haven't seen anyone comment here that they shouldn't be. If you'd care to read what is being written, it is the inconsiderate use of them that is being critisised. As with most things, there is a time and a place and an appropriate way to behave with mobile phones - firstly, have some consideration for everyone else. There is NO NEED for the person next to me on the train to be SHOUTING at the person on the other end of the phone - it would be just as annoying if they were shouting at someone in the same carriage.
If people were a little more considerate there wouldn't be a need for us to consider "banning" such activities.
As for "...people who like to eavesdrop", maybe you have some kind of superhuman capabilities but I for one cannot ignore the conversation of someone speaking very loudly on the phone next to me (much as I would like to)- it can prevent any kind of quiet thought since you are not able to "hear yourself think".
People talking to each other in the same carriage tend to be able to do it alot quieter because they firstly are aware of other people around them, secondly do not have the additional sounds of the train (and the environment of the other person) being amplified through the phone and thirdly can "read" a certain amount of what their colleague is saying through their lips and body language.
PS. If you're so sure your ideas are valid, why the need to be anonymous?
9. Henry Goodman
Is there a case for allowing texting but not talking in some places?
10. David Walker
To Gareth Williams: people talking to each other on a train normally speak at only 10 percent of the volume they use when they're on the phone.
11. Michael Dixon
Texting?
Only if they can switch the d*mn*d buttons to silent.
Why do tv writers still think that we need to hear the beep? Or do they think that we think that it is like Star Trek with fake communicators?
12. Jon
The article worried me slightly because politicians knees will start jerking if enough people moan, these are usually the same people again and again, they always have time on their hands to complain about trivial matters and carry their 'soap-box' like an ugly chip on their shoulders.
Fortunately I see a great deal of sensible response here, noting that it's the users who need to be considerate, not the technology which needs banning. There are methods available to block mobile signals, so if you're in a library (for instance) then you'd have to go outside to get a signal, this would be good for cinemas and anywhere else where it's in-appropriate to use mobiles. (Ed note. I think that is the very measure we are advocating - and many of the respondents. We don't want to make it illegal to carry a mobile - just impossible to use in many places where some people are unable to exercise courtesy.)
Hopefully Steve from London won't bust another blood vessel when he reads this...