To ask why people insist on making calls using speakerphone when in a public place?

[auserna]

I mean aside from the obvious fact that it's highly irritating and inconsiderate to those around you, I don't understand the benefit. The sound is tinny, unpleasant and distorted, and you have to wave it in front of your face instead of simply holding it to your ear as we have done since Alexander Graham Bell were a lad.

I can see the point if you're at home, say cooking, and you pop it down on the worktop, or you're having a family chat with multiple people looking at the phone at the same time, but people on their own - on the bus, for example - I just don't get it.

I also hate it when other people put me on speakerphone - I find the resulting quality of sound uncomfortably unpleasant.

I'm in Italy at the moment and it's every bit as bad here.

Please explain, as it might help me to find it less annoying.

It is a bit sad, in public. And attention seeking. It makes them feel important.

Attention seeking. 🙄🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

I had an incident recently where I was staying in a hotel on a small Scottish island and was spending a few hours in the afternoon reading in the sunroom. A middle-aged man felt the need to have a work-related call on loudspeaker in the quiet room. His wife and children said nothing. When I asked him to take it as a normal call as I didn't want to listen to his work conversation whilst trying to relax, an American male of similar age also in the sunroom interjected to ask me, rudely: "is this a library?" 🤣he got short shrift but I genuinely don't understand, aside from issues of social etiquette, why you'd want to have strangers listen to your mundane conversation??

It’s an odd mix - strong opinions on public behaviour, very little grasp of either spelling or social awareness.

I think there’s a correlation being evidenced here. It’s always the same - no doubt you were one of those kids who ‘really didn’t care’ about education, either. Poor SPAG, loud opinions, and absolutely no consideration for anyone else.

It’s only ever trashy people you see doing this though. You see somebody doing this and you know immediately the kind of person they are and the kind of children they raise.

This. Due to a whole load of different factors, there’s now a very obvious entitled, every person for themselves, ‘do-whatever-the-fuck-you-want-and-be-unnecessarily-aggressive-if challenged’ mentality absolutely everywhere in the uk. Which results in stuff like this becoming entirely normalised behaviour.

When it’s one twat on a train taking calls and playing TikToks out loud, other passengers might feel they can reasonably say something. When it’s every other fucker on the entire train, it’s reached a tipping point and there’s no going back - it’s a total waste of energy to comment and you’ll probably get a mouthful for your trouble.

What I find harder to understand is the adoption of antisocial and inconsiderate behaviour by people who should know better - there was a woman in her 70s in a waiting room the other day blaring out shite from her phone, and she’s far from the first older person I’ve seen doing the same. I do wonder if phone use has become a sort of insulated bubble for some people - they’re just in their own little world, almost like a car, and cease to register anyone beyond the screen.

I've never thought about this. I always speak on the phone using speakerphone whether I'm in the house sat down or doing something and when out and about anywhere. Never thought that anyone would be bothered. I don't get buses but I do it wherever else I go.

So your response to anyone questioning your behaviour, even in an online forum, is basically aggression, selfishness, entitlement and ‘me first and fuck the rest of you’?

Now you say it though, I can totally see it’s not you that’s the problem, it’s everyone else.

I mean, you’ve got rights, haven’t you babes?

I just can't see how it's justifiable - selfish selfish selfish - I just think people who do this are twats and if they can't hear or phone us broken use headphones which is a less annoying alternative- shame on you Easterbumbum

I have to take calls from the general public and when I know I’m on speaker, I wish could terminate the call. I don’t agree to everyone hearing me speak.
It’s rude and some people look weird shouting what looks like to themselves. Bus journeys are the worst because they are normally having the loudest boring blood conversions.
But then I prefer to text with my phone on silent.

You’ve never thought about this? Really. Do you not see how selfish and inconsiderate you are. How were you brought up? To not ever give a toss about anyone else?

I would happily have a conversation with an actual person on a train eg if I see a friend, or travelling with family. I dont answer most calls I get if im on the train but if i have to, i try to end the call ASAP (and its never on speaker)
Im amazed that people put up with having to use speakerphone "because their phone is broken". If mine had that sort of fault id be getting it fixed or getting a new one.
Im amazed at the amount of info people give out at volume when on public transport (dob, credit card number, kids info, medical info etc)

I would happily have a conversation with an actual person on a train eg if I see a friend, or travelling with family. I dont answer most calls I get if im on the train but if i have to, i try to end the call ASAP (and its never on speaker)
Im amazed that people put up with having to use speakerphone "because their phone is broken". If mine had that sort of fault id be getting it fixed or getting a new one.
Im amazed at the amount of info people give out at volume when on public transport (dob, credit card number, kids info, medical info etc)

It’s an obnoxious thing to do. I don’t think people realise how loud they are when they are doing it and also how stupid most of their conversations are. It’s rude. The type of person that does it is either a bit thick in not realizing how annoying it is or are just obnoxious. Obviously it’s not a problem if people do it when they aren’t next to other people but doing it on trains and buses for example is rude.

No person with a shred of intelligence does this. It’s the preserve of the stupid.

I don’t know why and whether it’s to do with how he processes sound but my autistic son can’t hear properly unless it’s on speakerphone. When he was younger we thought he had glue ear but it turned out it was a processing issue.

I have no idea why they do this. Particularly as I think they look ridiculous and like they don't know how to hold a phone properly. It serves no purpose.

Honestly no, never thought about it. I can't remember the last time I put my phone to my ear. Nobody has ever said anything to me or given any indication they are bothered by it so this thread is interesting.

Two wrongs don't make a right, however the second wrong which has helped enable it is the end of a headphone slot on newer Apple phones.

It’s horribly intrusive. Your fellow humans can’t concentrate on anything other than your call. It’s not about nosiness but there’s something about the pitch, tone and sound of the person ‘within’ the phone that is impossible to ignore.

Buy some headphones if you can’t use it by your ear.

Headphones is a good idea.

My dad is partially deaf and it’s the only way he can hear what the other person is saying - I guess his hearing aids don’t work if he has the phone next to his ear.

Sometimes it is great though. I was on the train going to a meeting and heard someone in the carriage having a loud chat on speakerphone. He was going to the same meeting as me and wanted to clarify his commercial red lines beforehand and know what the minimum was his company could accept.

Stupid fucker ended up signing his company up to far worse contract than if he hadn’t been yapping away. It cost them millions.

I once saw someone (stranger) join in the conversation. The caller was all what are you doing. Person said I assumed that since you having a loud public call that it was open to all of us to join in. If you don't want that perhaps you shouldn't use the speakerphone.

It was brilliant.

I am a hearing aid user and (1) this behaviour makes it harder for (other) hearing aid users because, as you probably know, lots of background noise and voices makes hearing anything clearly even harder, and (2) streaming your phone calls directly into hearing aids makes it easier to hear the other person without anyone needing to shout, and has the benefit of not subjecting everyone else to the conversation.

One of the reason I object to this behaviour on trains is because it makes it even harder for me to hear the train announcements.

(My hearing aids are NHS standard issue. If your dad doesn’t know how to link them to his phone, his audiologist will be able to help.)