To think Ahhhhhh to loud phones and tablets in cafes and restaurants

Honestly as a member of 'the staff' we can put up all the signs we like and ask people until we're blue in the face - if you're lucky you get ignored, if not then you end up with a confrontational situation and a scene that's worse than the original problem and makes everyone uncomfortable (who then complain and want compensation for their ruined meal, and somehow you get bollocked simultaneously for trying to keep it comfortable for everyone and not doing enough).

It drives me nuts as well both as a customer and as a member of staff, but people who behave like that don't care about the effect on other people in the first place and as 'the staff' we're bottom of the food chain and the least respected and least listened to in the whole situation, so they either ignore you or use it as a reason to make a big fuss and play the victim. And then there's the obligatory review which will paint you like a child hater.

But, the customer is always right and all that so......... 🤷🏼‍♀️.

There's a viewpoint next to me with lovely views and it's popular to sit there and watch the sunrise.

Was there last weekend with OH. Several other couples/family groups were there but it was very quiet.

All of a sudden there was a commotion when a couple with a teen girl and a younger boy turned up. The boy immediately whipped out a tablet and started watching cartoons at full volume. The girl had a half full wine glass with a strawberry on the rim and was standing in front of people trying to do arty Insta pics. The mother had a smear on her lens which made the sun look like a lightsabre on her pictures and she screamed loudly and laughed theatrically several times about her lightsabre pics. They all had to have a go having their picture taken with the lightsabre.

It properly ruined a romantic cuddle that did!

I can’t stand it. I work in a coffee shop and I have to tell parents not to because it sends me spiralling and I’m unable to concentrate on my customers. It has a rippling effect on the entire shop, the parents will instantly start chatting louder, the tables around them increase in volume too, then it just flows around the room until everyone is that little bit louder than usual and all of a sudden we can’t hear what customers are ordering and everybody being served or waiting is that tiny little bit more vexed because of Noise. Because of one toddler needing to stare at a screen rather than be talked to and played with.

I completely agree OP! I hate it so much, it really bothers me, I don’t understand how people don’t think it’s so rude.

i was waiting for an antenatal appointment in a hospital a few weeks ago and there was a male partner in the waiting room who was playing games on his phone with the volume up loud! Couldn’t believe it.

Yes, and this is why signs would probably make no difference - cue the cries of "they'll melt down / scream / want to run around instead and that'll be worse"

I tend to open my mouth and phrases like “Nobody else needs to listen to that noise, can you use headphones please?” fall out😳 My kids are often mortified at me confronting strangers but 9/10 times it works. Tutting and being annoyed doesn’t work though.

I haven’t been beaten up yet.

like it was a fucking kazoo

Proper LOL.

I was thinking 'like she thinks she's in star trek'.

@surreygirl1987

Same here, hangman, the boxes game anything to occupy and they hadn't invented tablets. We coped and dd learned to spell from the hours of hangman . In fact dd hates noise so it's awkward with the competing sounds these days, autism varies a lot

See, that makes no sense to me.
I call someone on my phone, I hold my phone to the side of my head. Since when has it been a thing to talk into your phone like it was a fucking kazoo?

I ran up and down a lovely waterway yesterday. Passed the same woman twice who spent the entire 30 minutes (I'm assuming, I was only near her for a couple) shouting into a phone on speaker. In a quiet, lovely area with dog walkers, runners, people with their children.

If you want to shout at your friends, do it at home!

Yes same. Actually, I'm fairly surely I'm autistic too, and I find the awful tinny noise of videos playing on phones etc really grating. If I get to the point where I feel like I need to give my kids screens when out and about (not saying it will never ever happen, but so far so good), it will be with headphones.

I was in a Costa today. A family came in.... one kid immediately had a tablet thrust in front of him.. on loud. Loads of beeping! Another kid appeared to have a meltdown due to the noise and got taken outside. She was spinning and dancing outside, came back in.... melted down again. Mum was knackered, and kept apologising.
Fucking chaos.

I do think there is a real issues about screen addiction. Why are people putting screens in front of toddlers, and sometimes babies. What happened to interacting with your own kids?

We are the same, my son has Autism among other things and we have never used screens in public, we use other coping mechanisms and keep outings as short and sweet as we can.
in the past loud noises from devices around him have actually upset and unsettled him due to sensory overload and we have had to leave or move on more than one occasion.
obvIously everyone is different and has different coping mechanisms, however, some people are oblivious to how their actions are affecting others. It seems to be common place now along with toddlers and smartphones in pushchairs.

I agree with you about noisy phones although I do always try to suck tablets quietly, except of course the suppositories, with thise I have to just grit my teeth and clench them, and hope no-one is looking. 😵

The screens thing is very annoying. I had to sit recently through 2 hours of peppa pig on a plane. So inconsiderate.

I've also noticed that lots of people walk around on video call or loud speaker. Why?? I wouldn't want random people to hear me through a phone.

Half the people on my usual train either

• have no headphones = most of the carriage can hear what they're listening to

It drives me insane.

Agree, I always ask them to turn it down, be it a loud face timer or a Peppa pig fiend

had this experience in both A&E & minor injuries recently, loud phones despite people with head injuries who had headaches. I didn’t have a headache initially whilst sat with relative, I did after 2 hours of listening to it, at which point another person waiting told them to turn it down. Selfish lazy parenting.

I think it’s extremely obnoxious. I have two small children and wouldn’t dream of letting them have their tablets on loud in a public place, to be fair we rarely take them out but I appreciate different strokes for different folks and some children have different sensory needs, but headphones exist for a reason.
I have to move tables/ areas before due to tablet noise. Honestly I would leave an establishment if moving didn't fix the noise issue, I’m not paying good money, to hear a tinny little ping ping ding every few seconds.

And there was a poster claiming it didn't affect/annoy younger generations!

I suspect it's sensitivity range not age issue - there is always a bell curve and some people won't be bothered by any noise others tiniest sounds cause issue but bulk of people falling in-between in range between two extremes.

I think behavior changed and noise levels have increased and people like me and kids who could cope in public easily in past increasingly find we struggle.

You're allowed to talk quietly in the quiet carriage, just no devices