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 
my husband answers his blackberry while we are eating dinner…drives me bananas.
He also like to apologize to me after a fight via blackberry messenger–which frankly, i find less than satisfying.
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I can’t stand it when people use there cell phone in CHURCH! I have seen so many people checking & writing emails, texting, posting to blogs & even talking on the phone. I don’t understand what’s so important that you can’t take some time out of your life for Church! Why go if your not going to devote your self to it.
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i used to go out for drinks with a girlfriend. while we were chatting, she’d look to her phone and flip to her e-mail account – just to be sure she wasn’t missing out on anything else. didn’t get a text, or a ping that she got an e-mail, she just “wanted to be sure.”
we don’t go out for drinks anymore.
{i’m desperately wanting a bag like this i can use to carry my camera, along with a few extras, once our little bird gets here in five months – fingers crossed!}
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My biggest pet peeve is people that talk on the phone while they are in the restroom! Really? I’m pretty sure the person on the other end of the conversation doesn’t want to hear you tinkle!
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texting during meetings or classes – seems rude unless the speaker invited it (say, in order to support a tweetchat during a conference)
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Shorthand when texting, e.g. UR DUM. How much time did you save by leaving out those extra letters?
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I’m a vet, and I’m amazed at how many people don’t end a conversation when I come in the room, expecting me to just know why they brought their ill-behaved boxer in, and wanting me to wrestle it myself…
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Biggest pet peeve: Airport phone conversations. On a plane from Portland to Minneapolis, a woman across the aisle checked her voicemail while the plane was landing. No one is that important. Put it away!
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Really long outgoing voice mail messages. Here was my mom’s before my sister and I made her change it: “You have reached Laurie [last name]. I can’t get to the phone right now or I’m still looking for it. Please leave your name, number, and a message and I will get back to you as soon as I possibly can. Thanks and have a great day. (pause where you think it’s over but of course it isn’t) And God Bless you.”
UGH. I would hang up before it was over almost every single time.
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Texting while dining has to be my biggest pet peeve.
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when people text each other when they are sitting in the same room… can we not have normal, engaging conversations anymore without our phones?
p.s. i ❤ these epiphanie bags!
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there are many, but the biggest is when a person can’t eat dinner with me, or simply sit down and have a conversation with me without checking their phone multiple times.
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People leaving their phones on vibrate in the office instead of silent. Then leaving their desks. Listening to that vibrate voise from the next cube makes me insane.
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I am in graduate school and my biggest pet peeve is when people have their laptops going during seminars. It is fine if they are taking notes, but 99% of the time they are checking email, facebook, etc. So distracting when they are sitting in front of you!
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when someone repeatedly calls your phone if you don’t answer the first time. somehow cell phones meant you were always available to take a call. if i don’t answer, there’s usually a good reason! (i might be in the potty trying to avoid committing a mobile pet peeve)
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talking on the phone while checking out. I was a cashier and I know how it feels!
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People who have given up on the English language entirely and use “text-speak” in email. I hate it in a text, I loathe it in email. It is not too hard to type “you” instead of “U”. You are not Prince, he is the only one allowed to do things to the language. Not you. So quit it.
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I live in New York and take the subway everywhere. I can’t stand when people stand on the steps going into the subway to finish their call/text before going underground. Move aside!
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People who talk on the phone while checking out at a store drive me crazy! Give this person the decency of eye contact and your attention while they work to help you.
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My pet peeve is when friends text you HBD instead of taking the time to type out Happy Birthday. Do they not have the time to add those letters?
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Talking to my parents when they are using their cell hooked up to their car is awful! First, you can’t hear them very well, and then you don’t know if the other one is there or not, so suddenly another voice chimes in!
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It’s annoying when someone sends you a text message and if you don’t respond immediately they send another message….not everyone is glued to their phone all the time!
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Where do I start…..I work at a school and there is a strict “no cell phone policy” during school hours for students. However, our principal is attached to hers and even checks her incoming messages during faculty meetings. REALLY
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I think it is when people talk on the phone in a store (grocery is the worst)the entire time in the store. Not just a touch base call but a 30 minute call, and because they are on the phone they have no idea what is going on around them and they constantly get in the way.
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I feel rather old fashioned, but friends know I have a cell phone – nothing fancy, no data plan, etc. Please don’t text me, then not answer your phone when I call you within seconds and know you still have the thing in your hands to reply to the text (say to make a plan to take our kids to the zoo).
I know I am older than my years…and I really love that camera bag 😉
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My biggest pet peeve is when someone is on their cell phone in a public bathroom. Ugh.
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I call it texting harrassment: if someone texts you, and you don’t answer quickly (enough for them!), then the next text is “are you there?” and then a minute later “hello???” and etc. Or is it just my ex-husband that does this? GAH!
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People who talk on their phones in inappropriate places are the worst. Ok, maybe not as bad as text-drivers, but still, I want to pee in peace. I don’t care about your friend’s neighbor’s goiter.
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people (and i’m guilty of this as well) who talk on their phones while running errands — in stores or in line to check out — i’m attempting to curb this behavior and be more present in my life, and the lives of my fellow shoppers, cashiers etc.
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I don’t like it when people answer their mobile phone when they are busy and immediately say, “I can’t talk right now, can I call you back?”
Seriously, people…that is what VOICEMAIL is for. I promise you that the caller will not disown you if they have to leave a message.
It is simple. If you cannot talk…do not answer the phone.
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What a great giveaway – love everything. As for my biggest tech pet peave: my boss checks e-mails and texts while we are in one-on-one meetings. There are many times when I want to pry his phone from his fingers and pitch it out the door.
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Oh gosh, texting at the dinner table, for sure. Or worse, taking a phone call. So rude!!
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The vast majority of my colleagues(I’m a teacher)bring their laptops to our staff meetings. However they forget to turn off the sound during the meetings, so everytime someone receives an e-mail loud pings can be heard throughout the room. This is compounded when one of the staff sends out a mass e-mail to the whole staff during the meeting.
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People talking on their cell phone while they are at the checkout/cash register. It is rude to the person rining you up, and it seems to add a good 5 minutes on to their checkout time because they have to do everything one-handed and distracted! I always put the phone down while I’m checking out/paying!!! grrrrr!!!
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Ditto on a lot of the cell phone ideas already mentioned.
It also drives me crazy when people over-post on Facebook and Twitter. If I open the website and most of the page is covered in your updates, I’m going to hide ya.
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Oh! My peeve is when people stay on the phone while they are supposed to be having a civil interaction with a cashier. It’s rude to the cashier, to the person on the other end of the phone, and to the people waiting in line behind them who have to watch them flounder around with a compromised attention span!
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This one is personal (obviously) but my biggest mobile phone issue is this: I cannot stand it when my husband texts me FROM THE HIGHWAY. WHERE HE IS DRIVING.
This behavior bugs me from other people, too. But as far as rudeness goes, I’d say that texting or even reading or browsing on a smartphone in any situation where your focus really ought to be on the other person/people present is terrible.
And this isn’t about being rude either, but smartphones are taking away our ability to be alone with our thoughts in places like public transportation, or while waiting in line, and I think that’s bad news.
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one of your earlier comments was from a doctor who hates when patients answer their phone during the appointment. well, the reverse is true too – why do doctors take personal calls during an appointment? once the doctor was talking in a foreign language. i guess she didn’t realize that i speak that language too and understood every word of her (unimportant) 10-minute call.
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I covet that bag!
As a teacher, my pet peeve is clear: students texting in class!
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It bugs me when people are using their smartphone to do work (like writing emails) when we’re hanging out for a social engagement. But it might just be that I’m jealous that I don’t have one.
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My pet peeve is people who bring their mobile devices to meetings. Then proceed to put them on the table in front of them during the meeting… and check and “pizzle” on them the entire meeting. Whatever it is you are doing, whatever email you are reading or writing, if it’s that important – then why are you in this meeting anyway? If you are in a meeting and there is an emergency, they will PAGE YOU OVER THE LOUDSPEAKER. Otherwise, please just focus on the meeting.
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I actually prefer to be called. I’m a poor student and don’t have a smart phone, it’s just a very basic cell phone with text and calling, so when people email me or send me a message on Facebook and I’m unable to check it until I get home or to a computer, it’s annoying to me. I have my phone number on my Facebook page, and it’s in my email signature, so there’s no reason for anyone who emails/facebooks/etc me to not know my number.
Furthermore, I hate it when I’m with someone and they’re having a whole other conversation with someone else via text. Rude.
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when a friend checks her texts, laughs, then “im sorry, what?”s when i was talking to her. I’M supposed to be funnier than a dang 140 character text, dangit!
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When people leave voicemail messages that only tell me that they called. Checking voicemail is such a pain and I already know they called. If they’re going to leave a message they should actually tell me something. Like actual information.
Gorgeous bag, by the way.
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Oh gosh, I have many … this past Sunday I noticed a couple who were doing who knows what on their iPhones during CHURCH, so using your phone at inappropriate times/places is definitely up there on the list. Also someone obsessively checking their phone while we’re trying to have a conversation – if you’re bored with me and looking for something better to do, I’ll take the hint and leave!
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People who talk on the phone at the gym. So distracting.
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*fingers crossed*
I hate when I text, and then the person calls back. If the answer is complex, sure fine. But to call me back with a one word answer is crazy!
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My pet peeve: When someone I’m trying to hold a conversation with is not only talking to me, but also going through their text messages and e-mails and starts randomly giggling (insert hubby’s name here) while I’m talking. He’s not laughing at my funny joke but the ever so important texts and e-mails from his work and softball buddies…grr…springing the “hey honey I’m preggers” is always a funny way to get him to drop his phone (and his jaw) when the giggling gets really bad…and YES…my 24 year old husband GIGGLES! 🙂
P.S. I absolutely adore Epiphanie! Absolutely beautiful camera bags!!
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My pet peeve is when I’m talking with someone, either in a work or social situation, and they stop making eye contact with me and start making googly eyes with their device. And even though they’re being rude, I’m the one who suddenly feels like I’m being intrusive.
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Someone texting while you’re talking to them!
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