While we were at SxSW, Laura and I threw a Mobile Manners brunch with Intel. We gathered a group of very smart women to eat quiche and text one other about the irritating things people do with their gadgets.
Genevieve Bell, an Intel Fellow who studies how different cultures use technology, presented some of their mobile etiquette research.
During Genevieve’s presentation, I tweeted while she was talking (event hashtag, FTW), checked in to Foursquare, and texted with a person sitting two tables away from me. Afterward, I drove around town looking for a funeral parlor, because I’ve heard those are nice quiet places to make phone calls.
Everyone else was the picture of civility, even when the gift bags came out.
Now that’s some good home training.
The bags were a team effort amongst attendees, and as always we saved one for you. Maile brought her gorgeous Epiphanie Bags, and I set aside the Clover Laptop and Camera Bag in grey, which is the one I carry. Everywhere. And sometimes I spoon with it. It looks like this:
Elizabeth works for Twitter, but also has a letterpress business called Paperwheel Press. She brought everyone a couple of geeky letterpress thank you notes:
And finally, Intel threw in a copy of Emily Post’s Great Get Togethers:
To win, please leave your pinky out when you sip your tea, and leave your most profound mobile etiquette peeve in comments.
Please only enter once; I’ll leave comments open until Monday when I’ll announce the winner. I hope it’s you.
Mighty Girl 
There are SO MANY to choose from, but I will go with girlfriends texting or going on their social networking sites updating their status, etc while you are out for dinner or drinks!
REALLY!?
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my pet peeve? when you’re in the car with one other person, and that other person -IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONVERSATION WITH YOU- is texting and emailing, and then MIDSENTENCE, whips the phone open and calls someone about something unrelated to your conversation. this is not cash cab; you will not win prizes for trivia answers.
sometimes i would prefer to drive with a brick wall- at least the wall doesn’t have opposable thumbs with which to text.
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Hmmm…when you finally get a moment to snuggle with your loved one and the phone rings. I ignore it. He answers it. 😉
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Trying to have a conversation with someone and they continue to check their phone and text and you know they are not paying attention.
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It peeves me when someone makes their phone call everyone else’s business by being loud while on the phone, and even worse, using their speaker phone to carry out the conversation while at a group function… the rest of the room is really not interested!
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I can’t stand it when the person I am meeting with acts like their phone is more important than my time! The e-mails can wait!
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Though I agree that all of the above is highly obnoxious I have to argue that loud distorted ring tones/songs and call back tones/songs top them all. Please be a dear and turn your phones onto vibrate.
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When someone is having a very loud conversation on their cell phone on the train, especially when it’s a very private or emotional topic, and the person is forcing everyone around them to hear it.
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When people must answer their cell phone even though they are taking to me – in person- at the time. It’s like the face-to-face person isn’t as important as that incoming call.
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When people check their phones while we’re having a conversation!
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Ooh! I hope it’s me too!
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When I’m with someone who is constantly texting other people. So annoying!
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Mine is when someone walks into a public restroom and they appear to start talking to you. Then you realize they’re on the phone! Or when you’re in a stall and the person in the next stall is talking on the phone. Good grief! Hang up and use the facilities already!
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My biggest pet peeve is definitely when I’m in the middle of having a conversation with someone and they get a text and they start typing back WHILE I AM STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF A SENTENCE. Can’t you just wait 3 little seconds to answer it? Then you can politely say, “I’m so sorry, do you mind if I answer this real quick?” I won’t mind and I’ll also still like you.
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Talking on the phone when you should be talking to the person in front of you.
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So many pet peeves, such a little comment box. Talking on public transport. Talking on the bus. Checking the time on your phone while I’m talking to you. Checking the time on your phone in a darkened movie theatre. Checking the time on your phone at all (doesn’t anyone own watches these days?). I could go on, and on, and on…
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I am currently in grad school to become a librarian and I absolutely hate it when people have their cell phones out in class, period. It seems that just the act of having it out on their desk means they have to check it every five seconds. They think it won’t disturb anyone if they leave it on vibrate, until it rattles along the desk when they get a text from their friend across the room saying how boring the class is. Texting when a professor is lecturing is just plain rude, and class is a lot less boring when you are actually paying attention!
And don’t get me started on playing farmville in class…
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For me, my biggest pet peeve is when people text in class. It’s persisted since my freshman year of college, I’m now a PhD candidate, and it happens at all levels of university. Sometimes the professor is worse than the students! Class should be a no-phone zone.
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Not actually ANSWERING THE PHONE. “I know you know it’s me, now talk to me or find a divorce attorney.”
Equally rude: not turning off phones in church – or better yet – leave it in the car.
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my pet peeve is when I am talking to someone, and they pull out their phone and start texting….how rude!
(and what an AWESOME giveaway!)
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I get SO annoyed when I’m talking to someone in person and they start reading and answering texts WHILE I’M TALKING! It says “You’re not worth my full attention.”
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People using a bluetooth ear piece around other people. Uhm, are you talking to me, or on the phone?
Bluetooth ear pieces should stay in the car. 🙂
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People on their cell phone when at the checkout! Rude!
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I have a few but the biggest is when people talk on phone or text while at the movies! It is so distracting!!
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Sending text messages one sentence at a time…..
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When customers approach me while talking on their phones, ask me for help, then make me wait until they are finished with their phone call. This also happens at the cash registers. Most of my coworkers would just go thru the motions with the customer rudely ignoring them, but I refused to do this. I would stand there and wait for them to finish their call. Sometimes I would walk away from them entirely. I don’t understand why its so hard for some people to give 2 minutes of their time at a checkout to buy a book without talking on a cellphone.
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Oh, so many peeves have been mentioned. My top two: the distractingly bright beam of light from the undimmed mobile phone a few rows away while you are trying to enjoy a movie. Talk about taking you out of the moment! And any face-to-face interaction (especially a meal) that gets trumped by the non-important text/tweet/FB status/email etc. So rude.
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A huge peeve for me is when people have their phones on speakerphone in public. I don’t want to hear your phone conversations, people! I was in a public restroom recently and the person in the stall next to me was on her phone, with the other person on SPEAKERPHONE! Seriously?! Are you kidding me?
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When your kid ignores your call then makes a lame excuse… Hey – I know you have your phone on all the time. ALL the time. And I see you look at your phone, decide to ignore it, and hit the little button when OTHER people are calling you. So it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to mentally “see” you look at your phone, see “MOM” on the screen and hit ignore. Poof. Mom is gone. You’re not fooling me!
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answering the phone while eating dinner. I don’t care if you are at home or in a nice restaurant… the person calling can leave a message and you can call back when dinner is over. ugh.
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Oh man. I cannot stand when I’m full conversation with someone, and suddenly their face is in their phone, which was on vibrate. Like the little buzzing text machine is more important than what I’m saying.
Maybe it is? lol
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My biggest pet peeve is when people are on talking on the phone while cashing out at a store.
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I work near a large auditorium, which frequenly has meetings. On their breaks, many attendees will use our hallway to talk on their cellphones (LOUDLY) with no regard to anyone who may be working there.
That, and cell phone conversations on elevators really bug me.
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Oh man. I love that bag for one. it is gorgeous!
Okay, and for two. I *HATE* it when:
I used to work at Kohl’s for a while, and I really hated it when customers would come up to the register while on their phone and ignore me the WHOLE time they were checking out! How RUDE!
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Ok my biggest one has got to be cell phones ringing in the movie theater. I mean seriously, there is even a reminder on the screen before the movie starts. But it never fails there is always someone who gets a call in the middle of the movie 😦
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People talking loudly into their blue tooth ear pieces in places where it’s really not necessary to be hands free. It makes me think they’re crazy, then that I’m crazy, and then I realize what’s actually going on.
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People who talk on their cell phone in the bathroom stall next to me. Really? You’re so important that you have to talk and pee at the same time? Give me a break.
The coversation goes like this:
Pet Peeve Person: Hi, what’s up?
Caller: wah wah wah wah wah
PPP: What are you doing?
Caller: wah wah wah wah
PPP: I’m not really doing anything right now.
Me: FLUSH!
Yeah, that’s right. I flush on purpose.
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checking their phone in a meeting while they’re talking.
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Having a conversation while making a purchase was my #1, but it’s recently made way for a new one. Really, people? When we’re face to face, do you think you could put your phone away and talk to *me* rather than text other people?
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I work in the theatre & hate it when people text during a performance – not only is it distracting to the people sitting next to you, but if you are sitting on the first couple of rows and your phone is lighting up your face, the performer can see you – YOU MORON! Phew, that feels better…
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When my dear husband (who in all other matters is quite good with his blackberry) checks email in the morning instead of helping get the kids out the door. (Hello, we are both trying to get to work here!) I run around trying to do the equivalent of herding cats and he is calmly sitting on the bed texting/replying. Argh!
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Answering my phone call when they are engaged in something else and shouldn’t be talking on the phone. Checking out? Yes, it’s rude to your cashier, rude to the people behind you, but it’s also rude to whoever is on the other end of the phone. If you can’t talk, I can leave a message or call you back later.
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when people are so dependent on their caller id that the outgoing message on their voicemail very snottily says that they won’t answer if the number is caller id blocked.
well, what if i’m calling from your medical provider’s office and i have no control over that? I still really need to talk to you.
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People using their phones while their kids run wild at the park, store, you name it!
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How about the guy who thinks he is soooooooooo important that he wears his blue tooth ear piece IN CHURCH… THROUGH OUT THE ENTIRE SERVICE! GAH! That drives me crazy. What can be THAT important?
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People who HAVE to text the last word or use many many texts to say the same thing they could have said in 1. Some texts are meant to stand alone or only require 1 reply.
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I hate when people type in text speak. I hate having to use a code to understand what someone is saying.
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I’m a student so here is my pet peeve…
Prior to the start of an exam the professor reminds students 100 times to turn their cell phones off…but there are always a few who don’t turn them off…or there are those who put them on vibrate which seems to be equally loud… and then throughout the exam there are various phones going off…soooo distracting!
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Biggest mobile pet peeve is people who text while we’re at dinner together.
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having the person in the stall next to you talk on the cell phone while they are using the facilities. Disgusting!
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