To wish the use of mobile phone use in public was restricted to 20 words?

[angelos02]

I am half-joking and know it would be impossible to police etc but I've just had to sit on a bus for 45 minutes near a woman yinging on about nothing on her mobile phone. I was 3 rows in front and could hear every word. Fair enough, briefly ring people to say you are running late, sort meeting arrangements etc but please don't bore a dozen people around you for ages.

YANBU.

And I'd also like to add texting to that restriction. Maybe one text while walking per day. Because nearly every fucking day on my walk back home from the nursery drop off, I walk behind a woman who stops dead on the path to text on her phone. She doesn't look behind before doing so either. She just suddenly stops! So I have to walk around her, while she stands there in the middle of the path on her phone. There's a really narrow part of the path which is only wide enough for one person. I got stuck behind her once because she was busy texting and dawdling along and had to walk in the road to get round her.

I was on the lower deck of a bus the other day. For most of the journey we could hear, loud and clear, the sound of an extremely heated conversation that someone on the upper deck was having on her mobile. Occasionally it was punctuated by the sound of other passengers begging her to keep it down. When she finally finished the call, the whole bus cheered.

But she could easily have been with a friend actually on the bus having a similar conversation - would that not have been just as annoying? I never understand why mobile conversations are considered more intrusive than those between people both in the same place - at least you only have to hear half of it!

DoJo Personally I see my mobile as a device to sort meeting arrangements, not a tool for conversation. I just see it as needy when people can't enjoy their own company.

Well, that's fair enough, but others see it as a tool which gives them the ability to multitask and turn an otherwise boring bus journey into a chance to catch up with a friend. I'm not sure one is necessarily a more valid approach than the other.

Fine. But other people shouldn't be able to hear you.

YANBU. I'll be miserable with you. Phone calls on public transport in particular should be limited to 'emergency' calls only. It's really not the place to gossip with a friend because it annoys me

Texting, reading, or watching something on your phone while walking is my bigger pet hate. Please don't give me an evil look when I step on the back of your heels because you've just stopped dead in front of me.

People who play games on their tablet or phone which require them moving around and jerking their arm drives me loopy. Especially the guy who sits next to me playing a driving game so he leans when he turns

But I'll fully admit I'm probably being unreasonable after 10 years of commuting. I would like people to just sit, quietly and sensibly, reading their book thank you very much.

It is just another example of people having no awareness of how irritating they are to others.

So buses should be silent? Or have no noises that might cause irritation to another passenger?
Do we chuck crying children off buses as well? I'm sure more people will be irritated by that noise than a phone conversation...

Fine. But other people shouldn't be able to hear you.

But this comes back to my original point - does that mean that, in your ideal world, two people on the bus together shouldn't be allowed to talk to each other?

It is just another example of people having no awareness of how irritating they are to others.

I disagree - it may be irritating to you, but it's by no means universally irritating. I don't mind people chatting to each other or on their phones when out in public. I read my book and let them get on with it.

How is it any different to two people having a conversation on the bus?

I'm on the fence...

I think it's something to do with the volume that people use when on mobiles?

At least when you're ear wigging on a conversation between two people on the bus you can hear the whole conversation...
When it's someone on a phone you only get half of it, would love to know what they're talking about sometimes!
When they're on a phone they seem to talk louder too. My pet peeve is when you're on a long distance bus that keeps losing signal so the call ends and starts repeatedly. just send a bloody text

Yanbu. I hate talking on a mobile so my limit is im leaving now on train, bus, pony, camel, meerkat be there is 20 minutes... Your ear feels hot enough after just that!

YANBU. Really irritates me when someone spends the entire bus journey yakking at top volume into their phone.

I was on a bus recently. A woman was chit chatting to someone on her phone for ages and ages. Then she said 'oh it's my stop now. I'll see you in a couple of minutes"

But she could easily have been with a friend actually on the bus having a similar conversation - would that not have been just as annoying? said DoJo

No - because it has been scientifically proven that listening to one-way conversations buggers up your psyche and makes you extremely irritated!

I wouldn't expect to be able to hear a couple of people talking to each other a few rows behind me either.

People tend to talk much louder on mobiles than when they're talking to someone sitting beside them. If two people sat together and had a big loud conversation that the whole bus could hear, I think a lot of people would find that annoying as well.

Its especially annoying on a train when the signal drops out.. " Hello?!, Helloo?? Can you hear me?!"

YABU if you can't use your dead time sitting on a bus to yak to a mate, when can you?

I think we all tend to be a bit shouty on mobiles when out and about whereas at home you turn the telly down or go into another room to get done quiet for the call. Mobiles are banned in our gym. No one takes any notice of any bans or instructions and the instructors do nothing which really gets on my nerves unless it is me contravening the rules, obviously, in which case it is an emergency and fine. The other day this girl was having a loud convo on her phone whilst on the cross trainer. I was some any away but could stil, hear her effing and jeffing. I found that offensive.

Sorry I didn't realise that someone had already commented about being louder on mobiles.

I'm with you op. It's really irritating. Tbh I'm not convinced these people are actually talking to someone. Most of them seem to never pause for whoevers on the other end

YANBU, it drives me to seething rage at times [anger]. And dojo I hear you but it is the volume of these people that is the main annoyance, they cannot seem to talk quietly as they would probably talk to someone sat next to them. I frequently sit near the back of the bus but can still hear almost every word of the person on the phone at the very front of the bus.

And the topics, I could write a book about the stuff I've heard. One guy spent the whole journey apparently telling off his mother for dropping his favourite beer glass and breaking the handle Is this sort of thing really worth using your credit for ????not exactly an essential conversation that you couldn't have face to face if a conversation is needed at all. By the end of some journeys I feel as if I know other people's lives better than my own.

And don't get me started on the texting head downers walking around Tesco aaggghhhhhhhh.

Tbh I'm not convinced these people are actually talking to someone. Most of them seem to never pause for whoevers on the other end confused

Very true Cornetto I often think if I was the poor bugger on the other end I'd be losing the will to live after 2 mins of this drivel.