why is everyone shouting atm?

[medebourne]

Is it a post covid thing?

There are outdoor voices and indoor voices and it's really anti social if you don't know the difference.

Today I have been on a bus and train and there have been passengers who are SHOUTING their conversations with fellow passengers or on the phone. This isn't just me, other people have been really bothered by it too. For example, on the bus I was listening to a podcast on earphones at top volume but could not hear as a woman was talking to her friend right next to her at shouting volume. On the train it was impossible to hear announcements because a man was talking so loudly. Not just me, two other people had to ask him to talk more quietly so we could hear the normal volume announcements.

Right now I am waiting for the football to start. My windows are open. I definitely expect to hear shouts and cheers once the match starts but instead I am hearing 'chat' at full volume about various inconsequential things totally unrelated to football. People are SHOUTING their normal conversations. Why?

Dunno. Are you in Manchester?

WFH. 100% Zoom meetings for 18 months. I'm struggling to control my volume now I'm back in normal face to face interactions. Likewise eye contact. Really hard to remember how to!

Are you just feeling extra sensitive to it because you're used to the quieter social situations that covid has brought?

WFH. 100% Zoom meetings for 18 months. I'm struggling to control my volume now I'm back in normal face to face interactions.

This and masks mean I’m definitely a lot louder than I used to be

Maybe to do with WFH and zoom. DH shouts on the phone now, which he didn't before. It's like everything needs to be PERFORMED! Wow! Great! I'm doing fine! No option just to do a low key chat at normal volume.

Please can everyone spare a couple of seconds to consider what volume they are using? If someone is sat right next to you there is really no need to use zoom meeting 'enthusiastic' shouting.

Real life is not QVC selling. People sitting several inches from you can hear you very well and there is not need for the exaggerated intonation or hyped up volume. They can hear you perfectly and can also see your expressions and body language.

Ah yes masks. I am sure that has something to do with it too. The volume does need to go up to be understood.

Please can you tone it down when you are actually sitting right next to someone though!

This is me. I am very loud and my DP says I give him headaches, we've just had a (quiet) argument about it as I said I hate him shushing me like I'm a child!

It's horrible to be shushed, especially when you are loud because of enthusiasm. It's like being told to 'calm down dear'.

OTOH. Sometimes (not always) people need to be reminded of how their voice comes across. It's not what you say but the way you say it. It's not over sensitivity. Shouting is inextricably linked with anger, urgency, advertising.

It's confusing and stressful to not use suitable volume and intonation to match your message.

I know @medebourne me and DD are naturally excitable, talkative and that means we can get loud. I am from a huge loud family background where you shout over each other, and DP is from a very small quiet family.

We are trying to work out a way we can all coexist happily!

He's not being quiet watching this football game though!

I've noticed this for a while now,and it seems to be getting progressively worse! I was sitting outside Costa's today in my local high street,and ended up going inside after half an hour because the 4 blokes on the next but one table were doing my head in with their shouted conversation. Some people just seem to have very strident, penetrating voices.

Oh I know. It is attention seeking. My ex neighbours shouted each conversation so I could hear it. How much they earned, how much things were, how lucky they were where they had been on holiday, where they were going on holiday. On and on.

I was in tesco and this lady was so loud all the way through the grocery store. What milk they should have, what they will use the milk for, how much they should get. Shut up!

I dont like people knowing my business. In this world of noise it must be easy to be quiet and get away with all sorts.

I too was on a train last week, trying to watch something on Amazon prime. Noise cancelling on and volume quite high but still I could hear a woman talking to her friend rows away. In that fake posh voice too, which made it even more annoying. I kept giving her my best dirty look but no joy!!

Having to shout through masks, screens, visors. I found that I couldn't talk and think properly while covering my face and simple interactions became overwhelming.
Parents spending 15m exposed to too many shouty gamer youtubers.
Struggling to adjust to normal background noise.

I'm sure DS's verbal skills have regressed (he has ASD). Everything is at one volume, not shouting but just subtly and slightly projected more than needed, and it's draining. Not helped by an extreme shortage of people to talk with over much of the past 15m and too much time engrossed in his areas of interest (and I'd already exhausted my interest in nuclear war and aircraft a year ago) Isolation is driving me round the bend (not helped by my social connections being wiped too).

On a similar theme, why the loud bluetooth car conversations? I live on a stretch of road favourable to pulling up fairly safely. I often, from my front door, across the drive and across the road can hear the content of these phone calls and I don't even have sharp hearing.
This was a pre-Covid thing, disappeared in lockdowns and has returned.

Is there an acceptable, polite way to 'shush' a loud person? It's so awkward when it's a family member.

Good question spindle. DH habitually shouts in normal conversation. I don't tell him to shush but I remind him I am sitting right next to him and can hear him perfectly well, he doesn't need to up the volume. He tends to shout back 'I'M NOT SHOUTING' but if DDs are there they soon put him right!

Masks have taught people to project their voices clearly. Much better than whispering or mumbling.