Mobile Phone Etiquette – When to Zip It

April 23rd, 2010 by Jennifer Jeffrey | located in Tips/Tricks | trackback

Have you ever stood in front of a group of people you didn’t know, and revealed personal information that they (most likely) didn’t want to know?  Sounds crazy, right?  Well, if you’ve ever spoken on your mobile phone in a public place, you’ve done exactly that.

Talking on the phone in public has become an acceptable habit – but there are limits to what is appropriate and what is not. Answering a call to quickly say, “I’m on my way” in a low volume is reasonable.  Yammering on for 40 loud minutes about your doctor visit? Not so much.  If you weren’t talking on the phone… you probably wouldn’t announce this information to everyone on the train.

There are numerous places and situations where talking on a mobile phone would be “poor form.”  One such place is on the workout floor of the gym.  Most gyms I’ve been in prohibit mobile phone use in both the locker rooms and on the gym floor, yet there is inevitably someone who thinks that the rule doesn’t apply to him or her.

Case in point:  I was toiling away on the treadmill the other day, along with several others.  Behind us was a small row of recumbent bikes, also occupied.  We were all going about our merry sweaty way when something jolted us all out of our endorphin-laced bliss – RING, RING.  It became more insistent – RING, RING!  And then, to my horror, “HELLO?”  The minutes that followed filled my unwilling ears with details of a day spent at Fisherman’s Wharf, a mediocre dinner, and the internal aftermath of said dinner.  When another frustrated exerciser politely asked the offender to end her call or take it outside, the oversharer responded, “But that was my daughter, I didn’t want to miss her call.”

There’s a time to talk and a time to be discreet.  Most of us (I hope) have mastered the art of putting our phones (and ourselves) on silent mode when appropriate.  When you’re in a no-mobile-phone zone, you don’t have to worry about missing important calls - Ribbit Mobile will take your voicemail message and transcribe it to text – minutes later, you’ll be reading it as a text message and email.  You’re getting the information you need without disturbing everyone around you.  It’s a win-win, and trust me - we thank you for it.

Photo credit: Cayusa

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