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Shows/podcasts on phones without earbuds/headphones in a public place


Janie Grace
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I'm working in Panera right now and need immediate feedback on this issue, LOL. THere's a woman here watching something on her phone without earbuds and I am finding it so distracting. There are conversations going on all around me and background music, which is totally fine (and expected). But something about the hiss and stage voices of digital content is really breaking my concentration. I realize it's a free world and maybe people here are irritated that I'm taking up a table with my laptop (I did buy food and a drink, mind you). But dang. For some reason, watching something on your phone, volume turned up, seems a bit rude in a restaurant. 

What say you? Is this the new normal and I need to lighten up? Or would that bug you?

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11 minutes ago, Janie Grace said:

I'm working in Panera right now and need immediate feedback on this issue, LOL. THere's a woman here watching something on her phone without earbuds and I am finding it so distracting. There are conversations going on all around me and background music, which is totally fine (and expected). But something about the hiss and stage voices of digital content is really breaking my concentration. I realize it's a free world and maybe people here are irritated that I'm taking up a table with my laptop (I did buy food and a drink, mind you). But dang. For some reason, watching something on your phone, volume turned up, seems a bit rude in a restaurant. 

What say you? Is this the new normal and I need to lighten up? Or would that bug you?

That’s just rude. Can you imagine what it would sound like if everyone were doing that at the same time? 

I opened my window to get some lovely spring air in and my neighbor is blasting music while doing yard work. I’d rather he didn’t. I can forgive him because he’s listening to Bowie, but otherwise, I’d be ticked off. 

You don’t need to lighten up, she needs to learn some manners. 

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It's so ubiquitous now that I'm starting to get used to it. In a bustling place, I'm good with it for a short clip or something. I mean, still mildly rude, but whatever. To sit and listen to something that's longish is just weird and rude. Like, not only is it rude, I don't understand how anyone can do it in the first place.

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This totally bugs me - so rude! I was in the waiting room of a doctor's office recently with only two other adults, and one was playing some kind of game with the volume turned WAY up. The high pitched ching ching ching of it was driving me bonkers - I seriously thought it was going to trigger a migraine.  

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I do think it's weird. I think people would be aggravated if a child was watching or listening to Paw Patrol or Thomas that loud and this is just grown up entertainment.  It's time to put in the earbud and respect other people.  It's seems like noise pollution.  I also don't like hearing people with blue tooth blab on their phones, that seems like the time to excuse yourself and go outside to receive a phone call.

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I do find it rude, but I think it's just becoming more acceptable in places where people are talking and there is other noise.  It seems that it is more acceptable in general now to talk on the phone in such places, too, because (I think) people see it as similar to people at a table together having a conversation.  So it is only a natural extension that a person sitting alone would not have a qualm about  entertaining him or herself with a video or something and skipping the earbuds. 

I don't agree with it (I do find it rude, just be be clear), because I think there is a difference between a conversation between two people sitting together and one person talking on the phone.  Maybe our (general our) ears/brains are just able to ignore in-person conversations more easily?  

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It's rude. It drives me batty. It is incredibly distracting. So is the person talking on their phone - take it outside. I hope it's not old fashioned to expect people not to disturb others for the sake of their own convenience and/or pleasure.

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The worst case of this I've dealt with was a man watching a show that was probably rated R perhaps PG-13 on a plane in the aisle seat with no headphones. I'm surprised the cabin crew did not request he use headphones. Some parents probably didn't want there kids watching it or hearing it, people were trying to sleep, others were trying to read. Even if people are having conversations at a similar decibal level I don't care. Perhaps I am just getting old but I do not like the new rules of not caring if you are disturbing the people around you. 

 

Then again I don't like loud music where I eat either. Background music with no words is fine, music with words that is quiet I can deal with, but music so loud I can't have a normal conversation means I will not frequent your establishment. 

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1 minute ago, TechWife said:

It's rude. It drives me batty. It is incredibly distracting. So is the person talking on their phone - take it outside. I hope it's not old fashioned to expect people not to disturb others for the sake of their own convenience and/or pleasure.

But what about all the noise the groups are making, chatting and laughing with each other, or the people who bring their kids who make kid noises?  What about the obnoxious loud coffee grinding noise?

I mean, I get that it's convention that you don't do that ... but I don't think it's because people have a reasonable expectation of not hearing anyone else's noise.

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Just now, SKL said:

But what about all the noise the groups are making, chatting and laughing with each other, or the people who bring their kids who make kid noises?  What about the obnoxious loud coffee grinding noise?

I mean, I get that it's convention that you don't do that ... but I don't think it's because people have a reasonable expectation of not hearing anyone else's noise.

 

I don't have an expectation of no hearing anyone else's noise. No one has said that, I have not said that. I have said that it's rude to play videos and talk on the phone in these settings. I'll add at this point that it's also rude to play a video game with the volume turned up in these settings. That is all.

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17 hours ago, SKL said:

But what about all the noise the groups are making, chatting and laughing with each other, or the people who bring their kids who make kid noises?  What about the obnoxious loud coffee grinding noise?

I mean, I get that it's convention that you don't do that ... but I don't think it's because people have a reasonable expectation of not hearing anyone else's noise.

And you know what? If that stuff is so loud and or prolonged that it disrupts the actual in person interactions at other tables - then that stuff is rude too. 

There’s a difference between expecting not hearing anyone’s else noise and being an obnoxious oaf with no consideration for those around them.  We have volume control and earbuds on devices for a reason.  If they have to turn it up that high to drown out their distractions around them - then get the earbuds on.

If they don’t want to visit with others, fine, but it’s really rude to make it difficult for others to visit amongst each other too.

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