Mobile etiquette

Today we no longer think of our life without mobile phones. How can you live and work without having a device for quick communication with people? Yes, as people used to live before: someone left home in the morning - and that’s it, there is no person, and you just wonder where he is and what he does. Well, yes, you could call your wife / husband / parents at work, for example. And what was it like to the same parents when the children went to school or went for a walk, and it is not known if everything is in order with whom they are, where are they?

Of course, there was nothing wrong with all this, but somehow people lived for several millennia without mobile phones, and nothing. But for some decades we have become so accustomed to the presence of this means of communication that we have already forgotten how to live in the absence of mobile phones. They had a strong influence on our culture, on everyday life. And it is quite natural that over time certain rules of decency were developed when using mobile phones, allowing them to respect the people around us. The so-called “mobile etiquette” appeared. After all, culture manifests itself not only in reading and education, in the first place it is a personal code of conduct. There is a lot of advice on this topic, so we picked up from several sources ( 1 , 2 , 3 ) recommendations that seemed to us most relevant.

Mobile etiquette rules

So, if we do not want to create discomfort to other people, to be rude and disrespectful, then let's stick to the following rules of mobile etiquette. After all, as they say, purely not where they clean, but where they do not litter.
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Do not talk on the phone when paying for goods and services . It is impolite not only in relation to sellers and barista, but also to the people who stand behind you in the queue. No one wants to witness your personal conversations.

Never turn on speakerphone in public places . Not only will others be forced to listen to you, but also your interlocutor. Do not force other people to be unwitting witnesses to your life.

During meetings, do not chat on the cellular, unless required by an urgent matter . Urgent - this is when the Queen of England wants to see you. Sitting and typing on the phone will be disrespectful to colleagues.

Do not use honeycomb for breakfast / lunch / dinner . Not at all, even in order to transfer short phrases with a friend or to check the score of a football match. There are things in life that need to devote all their attention. Especially if you do not eat alone. In general, the meal is holy. Turn off the phone for this time or leave it in the office or another room altogether.



It is appropriate to offer one very interesting solution that can be used in any friendly company: as soon as everyone gets together, you can put your phones in one pile of screens with the sound turned off. Whoever fails the first and takes his gadget pays for everyone. Well, or at least for drinks.

Do not use the headset when walking down the street or in another public place . First, a person talking to himself looks silly. Secondly, again, no one is interested in your personal conversations.

Never shout while talking on the phone . If you do not hear well, you do not need to compensate for this by raising the decibels, modern phones have sensitive microphones. Let your interlocutor just turn up the volume. Especially annoying people screaming on the phone in public transport. In a closed volume, the sound is louder, and you cannot get from them anywhere “from a submarine”.



The same applies to the volume of the call: do not raise it until it stops in public transport. As long as you pick up the phone that breaks through, collect a lot of “good” views and thoughts from others.

And as a continuation of the recommendation not to shout - do not use swear words while talking on the phone . Remember that other people can hear you, and curses don't decorate anyone and do not add respect to you. In addition, it is better to refrain from a public discussion of issues related to money, intimate relationships, health and physiology.

Do not forget about such a useful invention as a vibrating alert . In all cases, when you at least doubt whether the sound of your phone will interfere with other people, it is better to put it on vibration.

Be sure to turn off your mobile phone in cinemas, at concerts, performances, in museums, at important sporting events, etc. In such places, all sorts of calls, notification signals, the light from the screen and, God forbid, chatter on the phone incredibly prevent other people from enjoying viewing and listening. As one character said in the wonderful sci-fi series “Firefly”: “ There is a branch in hell especially for <..> heathens who chat in the theater ”.



If you are in a room with other people and you need to talk on the phone, get out . It will be impolite and selfish to stay and start discussing your affairs on the phone, since everyone will have to listen to you, and even try not to interfere with your conversation.

Do not turn into a permanent photographer-videographer, remove something important and remove the phone . Tourists from Asia, endlessly filming everything around, have long become a meme. But they are somehow justified by the fact that they came to another country with a completely different culture. And in everyday life, a person who constantly shoots a phone looks ridiculous and annoying those around him. In addition, while taking pictures endlessly, we do not live by the very events that we only witness by becoming formally, enthusiastically looking at small screens.

Sometimes it's better not to write, but to call . It happens that a difficult question is much faster to discuss with a voice than to write long lengthy text messages, taking time away from yourself and addressees. And vice versa - they may call you in order not to waste time on long-term correspondence, therefore try to go to a meeting in such cases and pick up the phone.

Do not use the mobile phone while driving . Every year the number of accidents increases due to the negligence of drivers engaged in talking on the phone and dialing SMS. Warn your family that you will be unavailable on the road. If you really need to talk while driving, use the headset, pay maximum attention to the road and try to end the conversation as soon as possible.

Turn me on your ringtone and I will tell you who you are . Surrounding will always evaluate you on the ringtone that sounds from your pocket or bag. It is better to choose the soundtrack in accordance with their image. If, for example, you look like a middle manager, then putting Vladimirsky Tsentral as a ringtone or a melody from Muppet Show would not be the best option. Of course, if you care at all about how you are perceived by others.

Give priority to those with whom you communicate live, rather than calling and writing . People with whom you are face to face deserve more of your attention than a mobile phone. So if possible, do not interrupt communication with them in order to answer calls or type messages. If you expect an important call, explain it to the interlocutors in advance.



Refrain from calling other people from inappropriate places . If you are in a noisy street, in a crowd, then you will be hard to hear and you will surely raise your voice (see above). And to call from a toilet absolutely moveton.

Relativity of etiquette

It is not a secret for anybody that in different countries carriers of other cultures relate differently to the same things. The same with mobile etiquette. Expedia conducted a survey on how residents of a number of states treat these or other violations of mobile etiquette. It was attended by 8,856 people from 25 countries around the world (with the exception of Africa). Each of the respondents owned at least one of the gadgets: a smartphone, tablet, reader, laptop, or smartwatch.

For example, people are most annoyed by the use of a speakerphone in a public place. Most often this is indicated by residents of South Korea, Ireland and New Zealand.

In second place is listening on your mobile phone without headphones music, games or videos. Again, this is most annoying to the inhabitants of the three countries listed above, while this is most tolerant of this in Spain, Norway and Japan.

In the third place in the list of the most unpleasant violations of mobile etiquette is photographing strangers. This is most disapproving in Norway, Ireland, Mexico and South Korea. So fans of street photography should better go to Hong Kong, Malaysia or the United States.
By the way, the law according to which you can be fined for talking in an elevator, even with your friends, has not yet been repealed in New York. Remember this, wanting to chat on the phone.

36% of respondents consider rude to talk on the phone in a restaurant or cafe. Most of all this is not loved in the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland. But in Thailand nobody cares! Also, the Dutch categorically do not accept video calls in public places, which cannot be said about South Koreans, Japanese and Thais.

Even in Germany, the Netherlands and France it is not recommended to set a higher volume for ringtones and notifications. If you are sitting at an event and are passionate about correspondence, then you will earn a lot of condemning views in the same Germans, Irish and New Zealanders. And the Spaniards and the Japanese will not even pay attention to this.

The easiest way to photograph food for posting on Instagram is in Thailand, Singapore and South Korea. And they do not like this very much in India and Germany. Also, the Germans and their Austrian brothers believe that children should have as little entertainment as possible with gadgets. In this case, no one cares if you wear smart glasses.

In general, the results of the survey suggest that Ireland, Germany and New Zealand are most sensitive to mobile etiquette. At the other "pole" are Spain and Japan.

And finally, the complete list of violations of mobile etiquette, recognized by survey participants as the most annoying:

• Use speakerphone: 53%
• Listening to music, games and video without headphones: 47%
• Photo / video filming of strangers: 42%
• Talking on the phone in restaurants and cafes: 36%
• Video calls: 27%
• High volume ringtone and notifications: 26%
• Text correspondence during any events / events: 24%
• Photographing your food: 18%

As you can see, there is nothing difficult or strange in observing the rules of mobile etiquette. Many of us adhere to them simply because they are logically derived from the generally accepted rules of decency. So let's respect each other and more often think about whether we are not interfering with our high-tech gadgets.