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 
When you go out with friends and they are texting the whole time, especially if you’ve gone out to eat or to some sort of event.
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I noticed others felt using a cell phone in a public or not public bathroom stall was offensive, I agree. So, have you ever been on a conversation with someone and have to use the restroom, but can’t get a word in edge wise and feel like the offense is worth it, praying they can’t hear the proof that you couldn’t wait! It bites, because you totally can’t flush until the conversation is over…..
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I’m kind of old fashioned (read: uptight) when it comes to mobile technology, because I still am rocking the flip phone. That’s right. A FLIP PHONE. I love my flip phone…it never drops a call, it fits in my front pocket without producing a huge bulge, and I’m still able to tweet, text, and use Google to get phone numbers and addresses on it.
In defense of my flip phone, I’d say my biggest pet peeve is when I take out my phone and someone says “What…really? STILL? GET WITH THE TIMES GIRL!” I understand my technology is outdated, but my brain is totally in the now.
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Texting while driving!! Drives me crazy.
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People who talk on their phones while checking out or making an order drive me nuts. How hard is it to end the call, or at the very least, put the phone down when it’s your turn? Grr.
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Love your site, and I love this contest! Biggest mobile pet peeve to date, courtesy of my neighbor: extremely loud after-hours cell phone argument outside my bedroom window… on speakerphone.
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Assuming that just because someone has a mobile phone, that said person is available 24/7. YOU CAN WAIT!!! Just because I have a cell phone doesn’t mean I always HAVE to answer it! Don’t call over and over. Leave a message. I WILL return it!
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It makes me insane when I’m hanging out with a friend and they take a phone call – that isn’t an emergency – and proceed to have a conversation. I feel like if I’ve blocked the time in my schedule to spend time with you one-on-one, it’s not too much to ask that you not check-out in the middle of our conversation to babble about nothing with a third party.
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It drives me crazy when phones go off during meetings – if you forget to silence it, OK… fair enough, but when it goes off once, silence it so we don’t have to hear it again and again!
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It always bothers me when I see two people having a meal together and their both on their phones. Didn’t you go out to socialize…with each other!?
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My biggest peeve is talking on cell phones in the bathroom. It’s distasteful, disgusting, and unsanitary. Do you really want to be on the receiving side of a potty call? Ew.
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It’s not actually my biggest mobile pet peeve, but the one I consider most important: when texting someone to whom you owe respect, do take the trouble to write out your words and use punctuation. My daughter, who is 15, learned quite early not to text Mama with lolese; spell out “you” and use all those apostrophes and commas. Who knows whom we’ll be texting in another 10 years? As it is, I text my boss sometimes already. Be sure to speak respectfully, no matter how ephemeral that speech may seem.
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I work in retail, and I can’t stand it when I’m trying to talk to someone about something and they take a call. Not answer a call, “hey, can I call you back?” is cool. But “Oh, hey…no, I’m not doing anything,” while holding a finger up, telling me not to go anywhere, expecting me to stand there and wait? Not cool. Don’t they see that there are other people waiting? Rude rude rude.
Also, speakerphone on the subway. I live in Queens, and my train is aboveground. I love when we get to the Queensboro Bridge, because that means that we are going underground into sweet silence.
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I work for an orchestra. It makes me furious when a patron’s phone rings during a concert, as they are ruining the performance for the entire audience as well as musicians. In our next concert program, we are including a message that says, “If your phone rings during the concert, you will be required to cone onstage and play the bassoon.”
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I hate it when people respond to a text with “ok” or “yeah”. It’s a waste of a text, people!
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Those people who use a Bluetooth earpiece – I’ve been cursed at in multiple stores only to find they were really “on the phone”. but that camera bag would definitely help me feel better. 😉
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One time in blockbuster a random guy took a photo of me with his cell phone… I think he was trying to be sneaky, but it made that loud clicky sound that kinda gives it away. So wrong on so many levels. I’ve seen a lot of rude behaviour and bad manners involving phones, but this was a whole new level of rude. It was annoying to me as a photographer, as a human being who enjoys privacy, as a woman… you name it, it was bad, bad behaviour.
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Love all the comments! {wish I could have “liked” quite a few} Didn’t have time to read them all, so hopefully not repeating too many …
Most Profound Mobile Etiquette Peeve:
People who respond to their gadgets as if it was a 2 yr old having a tantrum.
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Talking to you but their eyes are on the phones playing game or read emails.
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it’s got to be the talking loudly on a cell phone in a public place….don’t even get me started… I have no interest in your conversation, please keep it to yourself!
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I hate hearing the Angry Birds music everywhere. If I can’t be playing it at the moment, I don’t think anyone else should, either.
But I love the bag and other lovelies!
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Oh, don’t you dare text me if you’re thanking me for a gift. Or on my Facebook wall, for that matter. Unless, of course, you’re not wanting me to give you anything else ever again. Then we’re in good shape.
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The absolute worst is ordering food (think deli or cafe) while on the phone or emailing/texting… It slows everything down and is frustrating for the people behind them in line and the server!
Thanks for the chance to win such an amazing giveaway!!!
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When people walking in public places (sidewalks, hallways, the mall for starters) look down at their mobile devices instead walking. Especially in narrow or busy places when you can’t get around them. Grrrr!
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When people try to hide the fact that they’re texting or checking email (or playing Angry Birds)under a table at a restaurant. While I or someone else is talking to them as if the covert clicking wasn’t happening. Just man up and be above board about your distracted, obsessive checking! Yeesh.
Fun giveaway, thanks!
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recently i went over to someone’s house to check out a cargo trailer they posted on craigslist that i wanted to buy. the guy who i was buying from got a phone call about 2 seconds after he took me over to show me the trailer, took the call, and proceeded to talk on the phone for about 20 minutes…which meant i had to wait to ask him any questions about the trailer until he got off the phone. i feel like he might have even shushed me a little when i tried to ask him something. just unbelievable!
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I loooooove Epiphanie Bags 🙂
I do NOT love texting while driving (scary!) or during movies/presentations.
I was recently at a Pecha Kucha night, and the woman beside me had her phone out texting the ENTIRE time and kept not-so-quietly reading texts to her friend. I don’t mind tweeting once in a while, or texting a friend to find each other, but why pay to hear fabulous speakers and then NOT listen to them?!?!
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Telemarketers who text you in the middle of the night .. hate hearing the cell going beep beep beep … friends who continue texting or talking on their cell while talking with them. And the obvious – those that still text and drive ;(
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I finally had to stop reading the comments because I kept seeing my pet peeves!
– Voicemails. If I don’t answer, text me.
– Talking on the phone through the ordering/checkout.
– Text speak. Spell it out.
I sound super old. Thanks for the giveaway chance!
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Definitely testing mid conversation. Makes it award to continue while waiting for their texting to happen again…
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My boyfriend and I just bought a car together. It’s mostly for him, because he works in Bayview and I work downtown, but every once and a while I like to get a ride the Volvo with the heated seats that I’m throwing money towards every month. (That sounds like it should be a euphemism for something really complicated and dirty, but it’s not. It’s just a car).
Anyway, the other morning, I hit the public transportation trifecta: it was drizzly, Muni was backed up like crazy, and I was running late. And so I called him up to try and get a ride. No answer.
And then a train came by but it was full so I called again.
And then another train came by, but this time I was waiting for the J when an F train pulled up on the other side of the intersection, and by the time I bobbed and weaved (wove?) through traffic, the driver was already pulling away. So I called the boyfriend one more time. No answer.
And so it went, until finally I rode for twenty minutes on a crowded train and made it into work a full half-hour late.
And the boyfriend? Who I’d kept calling and calling, to no avail? Had left his cell phone in the bathroom that morning. And that is why you shouldn’t read your email in the bathtub. The end.
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I used to work in customer service, and I hated the people who would come up to the counter while talking or texting, then look irritated when I said hello. So rude!
P.S – I am in NZ so don’t even know if I can win.
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The fact that my kids will only reply when they are sent a text and they ignore phone calls and voicemails!
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I’m tempted to say (what my friends and I call) “changing the medium.” When I text you and you call me back, when I email you and you text me back, etc. But, since the offender is at least trying to engage with you on this one, I’ll go with my other tech pet peeve (and I can see I’m not alone from the other comments):
Phone checking/texting/facebooking/twittering while hanging out with another person. If we’re at dinner, that’s where you are, not texting someone. Their message will be there when we’re done. And when I have to repeat myself because you were distracted by your phone? Just rude.
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I hate it when people go through a checkout line and pay the cashier while talking non-stop on their phone. It’s almost like the cashier isn’t a person and doesn’t deserve any attention. So rude!
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I HATE when people hold up their phones to record a performance at a music concert. Those glowing screens are distracting if I’m behind you!
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Technology is great but we are all paying a price for it. Let’s be realistic, none of us are that great at multitasking that we can safely drive a vehicle and talk or text on a cell phone. We are insensitive to our surroundings and use our technology anywhere we want. We are losing our ability to have face-to-face conversations.
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I appreciate it when I’m having a conversation with someone and they make eye to eye contact with me,not with their mobile screen. And for goodness sakes, turn it off when you are in church, a movie, a wedding, a funeral or any other function. Sometimes your business dealings and social life is not the most important thing.
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Gadgets at the meal table. When we’re sharing a meal, NO ONE should be talking on the phone, texting, checking e-mail, etc. Be present and engaged, don’t be rude.
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Ugh. I abhor it when people call me “hon” or “sweetie,” even though I’m almost 40. I think it’s a bit demeaning. The feminist in me speaking?
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My peeve on mobile etiquette is at the dinner table. You go out to a restaurant and the kids are sitting there (parents too) talking/texting away instead of having a conversation at the table, its sad to see that face to face socializing has gone down the drain, while the social networks are going crazy with tweets, pokes, and youtube videos.
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texts that read only “k”
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Email invitations. They drive me crazy! Except for really informal events, I don’t understand why sending a paper invitation is so hard.
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Without a doubt, the most irritating moment (ironically) is in my Monday morning yoga class. There is a lady who insists on bringing her iPhone into the studio with her, plugs it into the wall jack, and reads and sends e-mails in between poses. One day, I swear I will step out of my yogi persona and knock the darn thing out of her hands!
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You mean I have to pick just one?! Definitely texting or calling while ignoring the actual human being in front of you… but most specifically when parents are so involved with their mobile phone that they are ignoring their kids. So not right. What a way to show your kids they’re not as important as whatever game/ facebook/ twitter/ texting you’re so into at the time. And the worst part – they’ll follow your example and think this behavior is ok.
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I have many peeves but here’s one that may seem a little strange: I hate when someone (say, my husband) is out somewhere in which it would be acceptable to speak on the phone (like the park with the kids) but he doesn’t ANSWER HIS MOBILE. I mean, come on. It is a MOBILE phone. For one to use when one is, y’know, MOBILE.
I also hate autocorrect functionality.
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I am my own pet peeve. I hate it when I realize I am spending more time on my phone than with my adorable 1 1/2 year old son who is sitting right beside me.
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People who bring iPhones into meetings, set them on “silent” and then pick them up and look every time they vibrate! Grrrrr….
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When I’m on the phone with someone, and I can hear them texting someone else as they talk to me! To quote Michelle Tanner: “How rude!”
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people calling your phone and asking “who is this?” when you pick up.
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