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 
I hate it when people are so engrossed in their technology that they don’t pay attention to their surroundings, to the point of running into me instead of looking where you’re walking. And texting while driving is the worst idea I have ever heard of; I can’t believe some people actually think it’s ok!
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Texting while sharing a meal with a group of friends or family. It’s extremely annoying and rude (and unfortunately I do it all the time).
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People playing games, checking wikipedia, etc. while at dinner…drives me nuts. So, so, so very nuts.
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Gratuitous use of speaker phone, perhaps inspired by reality tv where speaker phone is the status quo.
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I don’t have a smart phone, but my husband does. It drives me crazy when he fiddles with it when we’re out together.
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I hate it when people call me while they are in the bathroom and I am not talking about peeing but number TWO!!! uhhhh, what!? You are pooping!! Thanks for the mental image of you pooping!.. Yeah, mental note, never use your phone..
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CHURCH! Immediatley before Mass begins, the announcment is made to turn off your cell phones. Invariably, one will ring, and the owner is way too embarrassed to answer it, so it rings for several times. Or the other extrme, when the owner of the phone answers and actaully has a conversation….during Mass!
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cellphone conversation. on speaker. on public transit. grrrrrrrr.
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Ah ha! I just thought of another one! When people call you, don’t leave a message and expect you to call them back. I’m thinking that if it’s important, you’ll leave a message; if not, I’m not ringing you back.
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When people in a ‘bad reception area’ think talking louder will make their service better. Also, when someone is ordering/paying for something and is on the phone. RUDE!!!
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This one is easy. I hate when I see people ordering a meal while on the phone. So rude!
Grey is my favorite color. It would almost be rude if I didn’t win. I might even tweet about it. 😉
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I HATE when people use abbreviations and ‘text speak’ in text messages- makes me think i am not important enough for them to use proper grammer and sentences!
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I cannot stand when people talk on their cell phones while using a restroom, public or one in their home. It’s rather rude to hear all the flushing toilets as well as other noises when you are on the receiving end of the phone conversation! It’s pretty annoying to be in the next stall and hear the rather ‘loud’ conversation as well. Can’t you wait 5 minutes until you’ve flushed washed and left the facilities to make that all important phone call. Ewwwwww. Besides would you like to borrow that phone after they’ve used it in there? They only wash their hand not hands if your lucky and the phone doesn’t get washed. Just a thought.
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My biggest pet peeves are when someone texts while having a conversation and the fact that people will just disappear in the middle of conversations-by-text instead of treating them like real conversations.
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most definitely when folks dont pause their mobile conversation when they are being served in a shop/cafe etc. treating shop keepers like second class citizens who dont deserve your attention while they serve you is appalling. just sayin’ 🙂
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Private conversations should be kept in private. I don’t need to hear about your sex life or your private medical issues. Also never carry on a conversation in a public place while using speakerphone.
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I cannot stand getting SPAM txting… you know, FW:s of bad jokes, dirty pics and “forward this to 10 people and you will have good luck” type things… really??? It was bad enough to have an email inbox full of this crap, now my txt inbox is too!! SO ANNOYING!
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Students texting in class. Even on vibrate, phones are disruptive when you’re standing in front of class lecturing.
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A certain member of my family recently got their first smartphone and is REALLY into texting and MMS. My grandmother died unexpectedly this week. I found out via text and of course this person didn’t pick up their phone when I immediately called them afterwards. Inappropriate.
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I can’t stand it when people play games on their phone while you’re trying to talk to them. Ugh!
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i feel old fashioned admitting this, but i really don’t understand what some of the abbreviations people use mean. for example, “IMO” took me so long to figure out. haha. but i don’t find them nearly as annoying as when someone is texting a few rows down in a theater!
thanks for the chance to win! :]
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People who fail to realize the most important person is the one you’re with…not the one on the phone, via text, twitter, etc.
Be present and show respect for whomever you’re with.
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There are so many tacky ways people use their mobile devices these days, but one that I find particularly ridiculous and irksome is when I see someone driving in their car, holding their cell phone 6-12 inches in front of their face (presumably on speaker phone) and chatting it up, as if that then qualifies as safe “hands free” communication.
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People looking at their mobile screens instead of where they’re driving/walking or who they’re talking to annoy me. Even worse, I imagine that such people don’t punctuate either – I’ve grudgingly accepted abbreviations over the years, but I will never accept the total lack of punctuation in messages.
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In a meeting where only a few are gathered (say <10) and there is one participant (who should be participating) who checks email/text/calendar during the meeting and more specifically, when the participant should be either talking or listening. Seriously? Back away from the phone or tell me you're anxiously waiting an important communication from [someone clearly more important than me].
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Although it’s been illegal to text and drive in California for quite a while now, I still come across people floating between lanes because they’re texting. That would definitely be my winner, unless you’re as bravado as the guy TechCrunch spotted last year who was driving, reading a book, reading a kindle and talking on the cell phone at the same time:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/03/this-guy-can-multitask-driving-while-reading-a-book-a-kindle-and-a-phone/
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Texting mid conversation. It is so rude and drives me crazy. I’m not sure if this behavior is derived from the low(no) attention span people have or just lack of manners. Either way, if someone starts texting, while having a conversation with me I take that as a sign that the conversation is over.
On another note, I lust after the grey clover bag. I really really hope I win so I will be keeping my fingers crossed until Monday.
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I pretty much agree with e/thing that’s been posted already. I’d add that I’m a professor & that its really disrespectful to the instructor & other students to text during class. I’ve had to add a policy about etiquette in my syllabus to maintain some level of decorum.
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people talking on the phone while being served in a store/at a deli/at a restaurant. Good Lord – we all need to wait for your call?
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I have many but my top two:
when people slam their phones down on the table in a restaurant, office, when visiting friends, etc. You’ll still hear it if its in your pocket or bag!
and
I dont need to hear 20 seconds of music before your answer service/voicemail kicks in so I can leave a message
grrrrr!
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So hard to choose, but the first thing that comes to mind is people who have a cell phone conversation in public as though they are sitting in the privacy of their own home – in a restaurant, store. Drives me mad. They should use their “in public” voice – a bit more discreet, quieter, without so many gestures or snorting laughter. Uggh!
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I’m a nurse and every patient in the hospital brings their cell phone, but some think that their texting/phone calls take precedence over care we are providing. I have no problem telling them it’s time to hang up.
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When I call someone and they don’t inform me that, their speaker phone is on and other people are listening to me as well.
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I have to second most of the list above me, but I have another: when people choose a text alert sound that is longer than a few beeps- someone I know has an entire song play every time she gets a text. If she hits the “read” button, it stops, but she just leaves her phone all over the house without thinking. This person is 18, so she and her friends are reliant on texting for communication, which is fine, but it means we have to hear that song over and over and over and over…
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I work on a reception desk, so my main peeve is people asking me questions WHILST CONTINUING TO TALK ON THEIR MOBILES! It’s just SO rude!
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I went to a meeting last week and the cell phone of the lady sitting next to me kept going off. She would let it play the ENTIRE song and then shake her head. This happened about 5 different times throughout the meeting. I’m thinking that she doesnt know how to put it on mute or vibrate?? So what really bugs me is when people have technology and they really don’t know what to do with it or how to make it work.
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There’s nothing that I can’t stand more than when someone texts me for the first time ever and doesn’t identify themselves. Way to assume I have you programmed into my phone already. When you don’t know who the texts are coming from, the context can be super weird and feel vaguely creepy.
I should just save a text draft of, “I’m terribly sorry, but who is this?”
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Leaving a phone next to your plate during the entirety of dinner. You will still hear it from inside your bag or your pants pocket; do not make the person with whom you are dining anxious by constantly staring at the red blink of a blackberry.
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Here is mine: phone use in public restrooms – and I am not talking a quick call in a bar bathroom, more like the sitting on the toilet at work and talking for 30 minutes call. Nasty. Wash your hands, wash your phone.
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It drives me crazy when someone is texting the entire time they are talking to me in person. Am I not important enough for you to put your phone away for 5 minutes??? It’s almost like you are bothering them by being there!
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People having loud phone conversations as they randomly wheel their carts around in the store, oblivious to anyone and anything around them.
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I’m not a fan of people who tell me that whatever I’m doing on my phone (txting, tweeting, checkin in with latitude whatever) doesn’t “make sense” to them + as a result is stupid. Example: “txting is so stupid, why don’t you just call them?” or “Twitter is so lame – you should just use facebook” Dude, if you don’t want to txt, then don’t. If you don’t get twitter, then that’s cool. But I do what works for me, so leave me be!
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People checking their blackberries while in the middle of a conversation with you….
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I work in a bank and it’s astonishing how many people will push a check at you while chatting and then get mad when you wait expectantly for them to tell you what they’d like to do with it. Funny that it’s never poor people who treat their money or their banker with so little consideration.
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Being on the phone while ordering at a (fast food) restaurant is probably the worst to me.
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People who order food for other people while on the phone. This always seems to happen at Subway.
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Let’s see….it’s annoying when I’m in the middle of a conversation and someone starts checking text messages and texting. Ummm….ok, didn’t realize you had to drop my conversation to go have a conversation with someone else without telling me!
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I just *love* when really combative people want to use their smart phones to Google everything I say in the middle of a conversation, because my facts can’t possibly be right.
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I do not like when people talk on their cell phones in the bathroom at work. Well – I kind of like the eavesdropping aspect, but seriously. That is just a germ explosion up in there.
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My pet peeve is people who broadcast their business to complete strangers by loudly talking into their phones. Seriously, does no one care about privacy anymore? Once, I was on the T in Boston in and this guy was BEGGING his girlfriend not to leave him. On his phone. With the entire train car as an audience. Awkward.
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