BS: It is a pity that....

Subject: BS: It is a pity that....
From: Bert
Date: 13 Aug 14 - 08:52 PM

Smart phones don't come with a 'phone etiquette' app.

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Aug 14 - 09:28 PM

It's a pity that one is needed.

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: Janie
Date: 13 Aug 14 - 11:33 PM

My newly acquired smart phone is still smarter than am I. Etiquette is still a bit far down on my list. As I am still way more on the receiving end than that sending end, I expect it will remain that way for awhile, if not for life.

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Aug 14 - 11:49 PM

I switched from Sprint (I had their phones for 17 years!) to AT&T this year. One of the apps that I have set to use automatically is the DriveMode that AT&T makes available. If I'm in the car the phone GPS detects when I'm moving faster than 15 mph and the app turns itself on. I am not distracted by the sounds of texts and the phone doesn't ring. It takes a message or sends a text that says I'm driving and I'll get in touch later. It's good etiquette to not have a traffic accident because you're distracted by your phone.

Your mileage may vary.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: JennieG
Date: 13 Aug 14 - 11:52 PM

I still have a dumb phone.......

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: GUEST,#
Date: 14 Aug 14 - 12:27 AM

Jesus Keriste. Why does anyone need a phone? That's a serious question. All it does is cause you aggravation. Hang it up. If people want to reach you, they will.

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: Janie
Date: 14 Aug 14 - 12:43 AM

Wish I did, Jennie. Smartphones are good choices for some people. But I made a dumb choice in terms of my lifestyle, present and future needs, projected retirement income in a very few years, and the conveniences that are valuable or useful enough to me to warrant me paying for.

What bothers me is it was not an impulsive decision. I thought long and hard about it and talked to a lot of other people. I still made a bad choice. I failed to talk to people whose needs, wants, life styles and/or incomes were similar enough to my own.

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: LadyJean
Date: 14 Aug 14 - 01:00 AM

I'd like a smartphone and I'm looking for one I can afford. This having been said, I loathe people who yell into their phones on the bus, or in restaurants, or in the movies!

There's that to be said for smart phones. People are more likely to use them for playing games in public places than tormenting the rest of us. I can live with Candy Crush more than I can live with somebody's one sided shouting match.

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: Amos
Date: 14 Aug 14 - 01:08 AM

Handling public nuisances is a creative art whether it involves smart phones or just loud gossipy conversations. But a smartphone can be a lifesaver. I can't tell you the number of times I managed to find my way somewhere using Apple's GPS utility when I would have been long lost without it. All these tools have their place, and there is no reason to let them dominate your lives but you can still benefit from them handsomely.

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: GUEST,#
Date: 14 Aug 14 - 01:21 AM

If ya don't get lost in the first place, ya won't get lost in the second place.

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: Musket
Date: 14 Aug 14 - 02:26 AM

I don't need a mobile phone.

My iPhone makes and receives calls as a built in feature, as well as everything I bought it for.

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 14 Aug 14 - 03:56 AM

I can sit on the top deck of a bus and, on my smartphone, watch a little green dot (representing my phone) move along the road on the map of the area I'm travelling through! Now that would be reeeaaally COOL ... if I were 6 ... rather than 66 ...

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 14 Aug 14 - 04:19 AM

What I often need is a map of my house, with a little green dot showing me where my phone is (especially when the battery has run down and it has switched itself off, so that I can't find it be calling it on the land line).

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 14 Aug 14 - 09:39 AM

It's irritating when people are rude when using your phones, but I saw something worse than rude in an airport recently.

It was lunchtime on a Saturday. A couple was in a restaurant, each of them staring down into their phones. At their table, their one-year-old baby waved his arms and looked from one to the other, trying to socialize. They ignored him completely.

Finally my husband said "Hi!" to him in that special way we use for babies. The baby riveted his gaze on us, and we played and talked to him. The parents NEVER EVEN NOTICED any of this.

Later I told this story at church and got two comments. A preschool teacher said that one can skate right by the period when a child learns to socialize. It doesn't last forever.

Somebody else remarked that it would be easy to pick the baby up and go off with him.

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Aug 14 - 12:09 PM

They turn off the attention centre in the brain. It's why it's not a good idea to have one on while driving. And that's regardless of whether you're using them or not.

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 14 Aug 14 - 03:00 PM

Luckily people do abide to switching their phone to silent or switching it completely off at the movies in Bristol or so I have observed every time I have been which is great but I do agree with the loud one sided shouting conversations on buses. It's as if the person on the phone intends to inform the whole bus about every juicy detail of their lives. Equally I hate business men who make a working call on holiday or at a seaside beach telling every detail and conveying to everyone how important they are. So much for confidentiality and family quality time!

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: olddude
Date: 14 Aug 14 - 11:18 PM

I have one that even talks to me. Why I don't know. I do like the Internet. I post here from my phone all the time. Kinda handy but also a lot of applications I don't need is on it also

Subject: RE: BS: It is a pity that....
From: Janie
Date: 14 Aug 14 - 11:50 PM

My cell phone is my pager and I am on-call 24/7, every day of the year.    I'm better than many about remembering to put it on vibrate during the day after having it on loud ringer at night, but do occasionally forget. Always embarrassed and also annoyed with myself when I forget and it loudly rings during the day. Also do my best to move away from others when I have to take calls or pages, but sometimes it simply is not possible.

Most recent experience was while on a Christmas vacation in the Charleston, SC area. We were on a tour boat headed out to Ft. Sumter when I was paged by the spouse of a decompensating psychiatric patient.   Boat was fairly crowded and also noisy. I retreated to a stall in the ladies room, but the ladies room was busy, the boat was loud, including the engine noise and voices and the prelanding narrative going on over the PA by a tour guide. I'm sure the people coming in and out of the ladies room were annoyed. I had to speak loudly due to a bad connection because our location was not good for cell phone reception. Even at a low voice, any of the many women who came and went could hear my end of the conversation. Confidentiality was preserved only by virtue that no one could possibly know who I was speaking to or about. Had I been riding on a city bus the same would have been true. Sorry it bugs so many people. I would rather not be on call when I am getting paid to work. But it is my job.

I do regret that others are annoyed, but if having to be around me when I have to take a page for a psychiatric patient and can't get to a private place to do so quickly is the worst thing that ever happens to you, I think you have a pretty good life.