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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is this accepted now? Young children and electronics on public transport.

789 replies

AnneGrommit · 08/08/2017 02:30

The last few times I've been on a train (not in quiet coach) and quite often on the bus I've had my peace disturbed by toddlers with phones/tablets either playing noisy games on them or watching programmes. When I've asked parents to rein them in I've been invariably met with either passive aggressive remarks about not liking children (I have three myself) or outright hostility and a statement along the lines of "it keeps them quiet". No, it doesn't. It stops them from pestering you but it's far from quiet. AIBU or is this an accepted "thing" now? Because it's fucking annoying.

OP posts:
SilverBirchTree · 08/08/2017 13:58

'People need to learn tolerance'... so teach your children to tolerate their environment instead of bowing to their demands to be entertained by noisy electronics lest they be bored or have to use their imagination for a few minutes.

babsjonhson · 08/08/2017 13:58

Yanbu

Used the tablet with my kid on a long train journey this holidays. WITH THE SOUND DOWN. she can play with the sound off or not at all in public.

CherryChasingDotMuncher · 08/08/2017 13:58

So I'm guessing that those of you who apparently are genuinely shocked that someone might find loud noises and videos playing irritating don't mind it if I watch mine and my DH's sex tape on the train? Wink

(Just kidding. We don't have sex) Grin

zzzzz · 08/08/2017 13:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

pinkstripeycat · 08/08/2017 13:59

I'd get just as annoyed with 2 people talking too loudly on a bus or train or singing outloud with their earphones in but I wouldn't tell them to be quiet/rein it in. That said, if my DCs were playing a game I'd make them turn the volume down.

zzzzz · 08/08/2017 14:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

thepumpk1neater · 08/08/2017 14:02

I rarely use public transport, but see it in public places and waiting areas. Some parents have said they won't use headphones for their young children when challenged (not by me) as they're not suitable.

JacquesHammer · 08/08/2017 14:02

When my brother and I were younger we'd happily sit chatting with each other

Well unfortunately I lost her sibling and the resulting damage left me infertile so her options to chatting are a little more limited than that.

As im posted earlier if her watching an iPad for 30 mins means I can work, we then get quality time together for the rest of the day.

SelmaAndJubjub · 08/08/2017 14:05

I ate a cake on a train in Japan! I only did that once after the shame that was poured on me

Look on the bright side, snickers, you could have been the man in Yamanashi I saw get a mobile out of his pocket and hold it to his ear (didn't actually speak). Oh dear.

SilverBirchTree · 08/08/2017 14:06

Lol @ Cherry- would love to see how tolerant parents are of that!

Spikeyball · 08/08/2017 14:06

Chatting is difficult when the child cannot talk.

hazeyjane · 08/08/2017 14:09

...or if they use a tablet to talk!

unlucky83 · 08/08/2017 14:11

YANBU
I find electronic noises incredibly irritating - especially games where it is a repetitive noise or a repeated 'jingle'. I don't mind music or movie etc on low as much as games.
And I think SOME parents are just inconsiderate...thoughtless.
I watch DD at an activity every week, smallish area and there is a child of about 8 who plays games on a tablet - accompanied with a running commentary - 'yes - gotcha', 'wow a hundred coins' kind of thing. It drives me insane. And they have a much younger sibling who has nothing to do and comes to look at what they are doing and they start squabbling. The parents sit at the other side of the area - usually engrossed on their phones and ignore them until they start pushing each other etc and then screech across the room. But still ignore the younger one and after a while they start again. And this happens every week....
There are a very limited number of seats and this family takes up 4 or more of them (there a couple of two seat chair things and at times the parents have had a two seater each) , neither parent actually watches the DC who is actually doing the activity. I do wonder why one parent doesn't stay at home or do something else with the children who aren't doing the activity. And there is a play park just outside - when the weather is nice one of them could take them to that.
DD wants me to watch her - also it is a way away from where I live and nothing really for me to do around there -but I have contemplated sitting in my car whilst it is on - I also looked at changing to another time to avoid them but I couldn't...
There are other children there and there is the odd tantrum etc and people talk to each other and their DCs but nothing any where near as annoying as that bloody tablet ...and the commentary.

SilverBirchTree · 08/08/2017 14:12

FFS no one is complaining about a child using a tablet as a communication tool.

Also a child who cannot chat can still be chatted to, which is has more therapeutic and developmental benefits than a noisy game or cartoon.

DeannaTroika · 08/08/2017 14:14

DeannaTroika - racist abuse, vomiting on trains, pulling peoples hair are definitely not examples of a trifling inconvenience.Having to listen to the faint background noise from a child on a tablet for 20 mins is

So says you. And what about the other things?

So your kid "needs" the tv on a bus, in a restaurant, everywhere....fine. Just use headphones. Why wouldn't you?

Spikeyball · 08/08/2017 14:15

Actually no, too much chatting winds my child up.

InvisableLobstee · 08/08/2017 14:16

The funny thing is I'm sure a lot of these parents use electronic distractions because they are worried that judgy people will moan about the children being too noisy and disruptive if they are bored.

YouLookTiredDaddyPig · 08/08/2017 14:17

When my brother and I were younger we'd happily sit chatting with each other and everyone else in places like restaurants, buses, trains etc

How dare your parents allow you to disturb the peace with your conversations and talking. Despicable.

Mittens1969 · 08/08/2017 14:18

It would be annoying to have to listen to Peppa Pig or CBeebies playing loudly on the train for the whole journey now that I think about it. I don't travel by train much these days so it isn't something I've had to cope with.

I have to listen to too much of it at home; if I was enjoying some child free time, I wouldn't want to be subjected to that. It's not something I'd be upset enough to moan on mumsnet about though, just one of those things, like coping with the train being late or bad weather during the summer holidays when you've got children to entertain.

pinkstripeycat · 08/08/2017 14:19

When my brother and I were younger we'd happily sit chatting with each other and everyone else in places like restaurants, buses, trains etc

You must have been 13+ years old then or have shockingly strict parents or just be "different" as I have never and I mean never seen young children sitting quietly chatting for any length of time in amy public place. Children are noisy, silly, bouncy, bored and funny - they are meant to be this way being children and all

YouLookTiredDaddyPig · 08/08/2017 14:24

It's funny how everyone who says they don't care is accused of doing it themselves. I only have a baby and no tablet. I'm just not bothered about other people making background noise in a public place tbh.

Winterview · 08/08/2017 14:24

Just because tablets have been invented doesn't mean comics and colouring have been banned. Nor has looking out of the window or talking. It really pisses me after a long day at work. If the child isn't old enough for headphones, it ain't old enough for a screen

Lucky you if you have a placid toddler who will sit colouring for hours, or have a quiet conversation, or calmly watch the scenery. I don't know any toddlers like that! My toddler is too young for comics, thinks crayons are for throwing, and 'conversation' consists of shouting words in excitement! She will sit and look at a book for a few seconds before scrambling over me to escape or bouncing about on the seat.

Let's be realistic- a two year old is not the same as a five year old. The latter can be expected to wear headphones, sit quietly, chat softly, read, draw, colour and entertain themselves. The former is still a baby.

SilverBirchTree · 08/08/2017 14:28

winterview- agree but babies don't need sound on their electronics. If she won't wear headphones, please be considerate and turn the sound off.

XJerseyGirlX · 08/08/2017 14:32

There was a thread a few weeks ago about someone being pissed off because someone was on public transport talking on their mobile phone too loud. Now a thread about children's toys/ tablets being too loud.

Are there rules for public transport? Are we all supposed to sit in silence ? Is it acceptable to talk to a person face to face on the train/ bus without someone getting pissed off because its interrupting their peace?

Public transport is just that. People are all different and have different opinions of what's rude and what's not. Perhaps this child in question is quieter when sat with a tablet and the parent was trying to do the right thing.
Public transport is for the public... If everyday noise bothers you why not buy a pair of headphones for yourself so you can stay in "peace" when your in public spaces.

MsHarry · 08/08/2017 14:32

Carry a cheap set of earphones round with you and pass them over!