disappointing... i thought it jammed them down their throats

[rone]

"Can you hear me now?"  Unsuspecting cellphone users may find themselves saying that more often now that cellphone jammers — illegal gizmos that interfere with signals and cut off reception — are selling like hotcakes on the streets of New York.

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

The problem is when your conversation is so loud that you share it with half the train car. And then it turns into a protracted chat.

A loud conversation between people on the train is pretty annoying, too, but i think that the cell phone one is perceived worse because you're catching only half the conversation and it throws your brain off.

I try to keep all of my phone conversations short and quiet, land-line or mobile, no matter where i am.

And, no, i'm not endorsing the jammers. It's more of a "death to civility" sort of thing; annoying cell phone yappers lead to radio-frequency vandals.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Yah, I find the cell conversations more distracting too, probably for the reason that you mention.

At O'Naturals (http://www.onaturals.com/) in Acton (http://www.local-i.com/bostonrestaurants/restaurant/onaturals/) a couple of nights ago, I kept being distracted by one of the parents standing around the kids' play area, clearly to keep an eye on his kids, and who kept up a long conversation. I kept thinking that he was talking to his spouse, except it seemed like the rest of his family was seated blocks and blocks away from him. He wasn't shouting or carrying on a lot, actually talking in a very quiet tone of voice -- but it was distracting because there obviously wasn't anyone else there! It was probably a good 20 minutes before I saw the wireless earbud in his other ear and understood what was going on.

[vspope.livejournal.com]

The problem is when your conversation is so loud that you share it with half the train car. And then it turns into a protracted chat.

Or half of any other public place in which the user is oblivious to how loud they're talking.

I usually respond by joining in the user's conversation myself, chiming in on everything the person with the phone says. If they get annoyed and complain, that's too bad; I'M not the one who brought a private conversation into a public forum.

If they're quiet, I could care less if they're talking; THAT's civility on both sides. But if someone's going to bray like a donkey ahead of me in the supermarket line, why should I be the only one who's annoyed?