Why do people talk on their phones like this?

[PumpkinSpiceGirl]

I’ve seen loads of people lately (mainly younger) holding their phone flat and talking into it like an Apprentice candidate instead of holding it to their ear. That means if you’re close to them you can hear their entire conversation which I find really rude and not sure why they’d want a stranger to hear it either.

Am I missing something or just getting old and grumpy?

I do it at home when talking to certain people and am searching for something on the web!

I know exactly what you mean. They're not recording voice notes; they're not preventing themselves from getting hot and sweaty; they're certainly not heeding government warnings to limit one's exposure to radiation - they're drawing attention to themselves and inflicting their banal conversations on everyone else and it's just one more fucking irritating piece of antisocial behaviour we have to put up with.

They want to be noticed and looked at

Hear anything! Ffs

This is mad 🤣 who would even care?! I have never once imagined that anyone is the remotest bit interested in the exact way I speak into my phone. Jesus.

My MIL makes all her calls with her phone in loudspeaker. It’s the most annoying thing in the universe. They go on for hours too.

I do this when the person is on speakerphone. It's too loud to put up to my ear. I wasn't aware people would find how I hold a phone irritating.

And you just enjoy being wrong

I understand that some people are uptight about excess/unnecessary noise. What I cannot get my head around is why you care about someone using earbuds and speaking into their phone. It seems like a very bizarre thing to even bother thinking about.

Because more often then not it is not just 'speaking' into their phone, not sure why but when people use their phones in this manner it is often with a raised voice that carries (maybe with earbuds in you don't realise how loud your voice is???). Someone doing this while sat next to you on a bus, on the table next to you in the coffeeshop, on the desk next to you at work etc just strikes as being a bit rude and inconsiderate and if that makes me 'uptight' then so be it. I could not really care less about someone walking down the street doing this, but increasingly I have noticed folk receiving or making calls in close proximity to others, which to put bluntly is quite annoying.

Well there have been people on this thread that have stated medical need for it.

My mum does this and has it on speaker phone. It's so rude and very annoying. Especially when it's my dad on the other end because he's loud!

One of my pet hates. I don't want to hear one side of your inane chatter let alone the other side of it, and both sides are basically shouting into their phone to make themselves heard.

So when I’m walking my dog, alone on the beach with nobody for miles around, who exactly am I wanting to notice and look at me while I chat shit to my friends/family/DP? 😂

I hold the phone like that in those circumstances, or if I’m just at home. I’m not going to hold a hot phone to my head and get all sweaty just in case someone pops up out of nowhere and thinks I look a bit odd. Sometimes I’ll even have headphones on and look like I’m talking to myself 😱

Really? That’s a design flaw. My mobiles always have the speaker at the top and microphone at the bottom. Current phone is iPhone, DH has Samsung and DS has Motorola - all with speaker at top and mic at bottom.

None of us do phone calls in public unless essential though……

For the older phone user holding the device away from the body......
This may be because they have had a pacemaker or Internal Defribulator fitted. The radio waves from the phone can disrupt the device.
Just like they are not meant to go through the metal detector arches in security at airports.
Most 'users' will carry documentation. Or, if pushed, will show you the scars and box of electronics in their chest.

Ds does that but he is hard of hearing so despite his phone connected to his aids vis Bluetooth he needs to do video calls to read lips. Otherwise he gets increasingly frustrated.

Purely anecdotal but from the younger end of the spectrum the ones that I see doing this have ear pods/buds in. So no need to have the speaker up to your ear.

That's very interesting @purpleleotard2 , your explanation will make me more tolerant I hope

I am often surprised by people saying Hello in a loud voice while I'm out with my dog. I'm in the North so a friendly Hello from a stranger is not unusual but sometimes I have said Hello back before I realise they're on their phone with ear buds..

Overheating a phone conversation is annoying, but hearing a face to face conversation is fine?

Overhearing obv

Not sure about the talking in to a flat phone, but know I do that if I am home alone and put my phone on speaker whilst chatting to someone.
Twice whilst out recently on separate occasions I have been browsing in a charity shop and had to put up with people talking on their phones the entire time.
First lady was making a formal complaint to a holiday company about a holiday she had recently returned from, listing x,y and z for all to hear. Tbh I was quite impressed with how she was handling her complaint, but in the middle of a really small shop where anyone could hear. Why did she not take it outside as it was embarrassing to listen to.
Second time, lady was talking to a buyer of something she was selling...consequence is I now know her full address and why she was selling item and so do half the shop. She then went on to take a rambling call from her partner for the whole length of her visit to the shop whilst she was browsing the nick nacks and clothes on speaker phone. Unfortunately everywhere I went she seemed to follow me. Just why?

Oh god I hate this. I am actually noticing it more recently. The ones I see are on loudspeaker so I can hear both conversations, hearing one side is bad enough! They usually shout too! I'm not sure why people shout on the phone, sometimes they're so loud they wouldn't actually have to make a call as their voice would carry a few Counties.

Dh uses loud speaker, I asked him why, he said he just prefers it, but I can be sitting here listening to shite from both sides. When he puts me on loudspeaker I tell him I'll text him.

Don't talk to me about facetime! That should be banned. Everyone seems to use it, yeah, fine if you haven't seen someone in months or they live abroad, but my sil will do it while she's travelling to meet me!

Urgh bugs me too - use some damn earphones if you're going to have the speaker settings higher than you would set them if using the phone normally.

If we're talking about peeves, I also hate voice notes with a passion. I refuse to respond to them as they tend to be so waffley and inconvenient (and no, none of my friends have medical conditions that necessitate speaking over texting). The only godsend is that if you absolutely have to listen to them you can put them on 2x speed and bypass the umms..ahs...and repetitions

Hearing impaired here (waves...) so I cannot hear speaker voices or ordinary calls where the phone is at my ear either. I have super dooper hearing aids that automatically activate bluetooth to answer calls. It is brilliant, but I do look like the mad Mary who is talking to herself!

Good news is, if someone shouting on a phone annoys me, I just press the button on the hearing aid to switch them off temporarily and all is quiet around me. Bliss.