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 would agree with almost all of the aforementioned peeves. I’m pretty peeved with folks who choose technology over humans, in general. But I’ll add that I get peeved when folks send me photos or video in their texts. I don’t have a data plan, but my phone will happily accept these texts for an outrageous, outrageous fee. So, the text you just sent me with that super cute photo of your cat?? Yeah, it just cost me $5.
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My biggest pet peeve is texting during a one-on-one conversation.. what a great way to show someone you are not interested in what they are saying! Texting, checking Facebook, and picking up a phone call at dinner are all close seconds.
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My mobile etiquette peeve is having someone’s phone go off during a live play/performance. For eff’s sake, you don’t even have to turn them OFF anymore, just silence the damned thing.
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My pet peeve is my own desire to fill every moment of in between (waiting while gassing up my car, in line, lunch breaks, in bed…) with my phone and its seemingly endless source of information and entertainment.
That and people browsing their Facebook on their phone while they talk to you in person. HUGE FONE FAIL.
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My biggest pet peeve is talking on the phone while at the grocery checkout counter or while ordering coffee. I think its very rude.
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I love that bag!!
My pet peeve is when people use their cell phones in the bathroom – ugh! It’s so crass.
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It’s so frustrating when people rob banks while talking on their cell phones. 🙂
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My mom does this – keep calling till I pick up, even though there usually is a good reason I’m not picking up. 🙂 I love her but I wish she’d learn to text.
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my pet peeve is when people think that they need to yell into their cell phones for the other person to be able to hear them.
what an awesome giveaway!!!!
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Call waiting bothers me. When I am talking to someone, I resent being asked to wait while she checks to see who else is calling and decides which conversation she’d prefer to have!
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Oh, there are so many… to narrow it down to just one… not using bluetooth or other wireless device to talk on the phone while driving! Even though it is now illegal here in CA, people still do it all the time, usually when they are in front of me, weaving between lanes at 10 miles below the speed limit, when I am late to something important. Annoying as crap stuck in my favorite sneakers’ treads.
p.s. SO bummed I wasn’t able to make it to SXSW this year. Being granted a prize would definitely help release me from my deep, deep depression over it all. 😉
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My peeve is sending a photo in a text, without knowing if the recipient has a photo-text plan.
A friend of mine sends me funny pictures of her kids, which costs me 20cents each! Of course I can’t say anything, since a photo now and then is nice, but four in one evening gets expensive!
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I love that being able to sync your phone to your car’s audio system keeps the road safer for everyone. I do not love when coworkers take personal phone calls, on “speaker phone”, with others in the car.
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People who have full conversations on the phone while using public transport. I recently traveled to Japan and LOVE that they have signs discouraging this behavior on their trains.
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I hate it when people call me and I don’t recognize the number, therefore don’t answer it, and they don’t leave a message. I’m having someone right now do this repeatedly!
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Having someone hold up their hand at me mid conversation so they can reply to a text message! I’ve had this happen a few times recently and I would understand if it was something important, but something about holding out a hand instead of just asking me to wait a moment strikes me as both arrogant and rude.
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Biggest pet peeve: people who stay on their cell phones while checking out at the grocery store, at the post office, etc.. I once had a realtor stay on the phone with someone *while she showed me an apartment*. (Fortunately the place was a dump so I wasn’t forced to walk away from a great place just because the realtor was a twit.)
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My mobile etiquette peeve: taking pictures at a group event, and posting them even though you know some of the people involved would prefer not to be identified on a social networking page. Thank you Maggie!
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Immediately getting on your phone as you get into your car to drive. Really?!? You couldn’t make that call before you left? I’m all for convenience, and I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t admit that I use my phone in the car. But if I have the convenience of using it while not operating a moving vehicle, I will take it.
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I HATE it when you go to the movies and it politely shows a commercial to NOT text during the movie and then someone in the row in front of you does it. The light is blinding. Talk about rude and annoying.
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When we do family dinners and everyone brings out the gadgets at the table. Trying to have a convo and hearing bzzzzz ding every few minutes!
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Whenever people are talking–whether it be at the dinner table, at a work meeting, or while in the middle of a conversation in the grocery store. It’s just plain rude.
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Pinky: up
My biggest smell phone pet peeve is people who talk LOUDLY and REPEAT THEMSELVES in closed spaces. Like da train. Hate.
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I get irritated by people who chat or do business on the phone while shopping. Also, headsets used anywhere but in the car. UGH!
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I think the most annoying thing people do with their phones is text while someone is giving a presentation or talk of some kind. In places like class or work– just leave the room! Or don’t come at all if you’re going to be on your phone the whole time! The clicking noise is very distracting.
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People who talk loudly on the phone while in the bathroom at work. #1 I don’t really want to sit in the toilet and listen to you yack and #2 EW! The person you are talking to can surely hear you doin’ your business (and flushing!).
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My biggest issue is with one (or seven) of my friends in particular who just want a night “away from him/her” and then spend the entire night texting him/her while we’re supposed to be bonding over large amounts of bread. Grrr….
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My doctor answers personal cell phone calls during our consultations. That is so annoying!!
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I am so annoyed when people drop the conversation with the people who are there to address one with someone who is not. Gah!
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I (like many others) find it hurtful when people talk on the phone when they are ordering or checking out.
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Alright, so. My biggest pet peeve is when a person is with company and they’re on their phone all the time. Not even phone calls, but texting, playing games, generally ignoring their friends. If you wanted to hang out with us, then why are you ignoring us with your phone?
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It drives me crazy when people attempt to “walk and text” but really just “stand in the middle of the sidewalk/path/street/hallway tripping up everyone else and text.” I know very, VERY few people coordinated enough to walk and type without looking where they’re going, particularly in a crowded city. One thing at a time, people!
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When people check their voicemail on speakerphone!
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When people feel the need to check their phone every single time it rings/vibrates/beeps even when they are already interacting with actual people in front of them! My husband’s family does this constantly at family dinners and it drives me nuts!
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My peeve is when someone texts while walking slowly and zigzagging up the subway stairs, while I am behind him/her!
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People talking LOUDLY on their hands-free device in the grocery store, airport, ANY public place. a) You look like an idiot, having an animated conversation seemingly with yourself, ALMOST ALWAYS WHILE DOING NOTHING WITH YOUR HANDS and b) It’s like second-hand smoke; what makes your conversation more important than my peace and quiet?
Wow, I feel better already. 😉
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I think mine’s a classic one, the using the phone (to text or to talk) while driving. Most of the time I see someone do something reckless, it turns out they’re also holding a phone.
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I also hate when customers can’t hang up their phones while dealing with customer service/clerks. I also hate when a person complains about someone else’s gadget habits when they are just as guilty. And, of course, when someone finds their twitter/facebook/whatever more important than the company their with (my mother might be the worst).
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My biggest mobile etiquette peeve is ring tones. My phone is always on vibrate unless I am home (and many times even then). At work, I shouldn’t hear your cell phone ring. In the car, on the bus, in the theatre, in class, at a party – shouldn’t here your cell phone ring. Let your business stay your business – use vibrate! 🙂
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I think that when interacting with a human, face-to-face, no phone should be involved. For example, if you are at Starbucks and would like a cup of coffee, get off your damn phone. It’s rude! Same goes for the pharmacy, the grocery store and anywhere people are literally serving you. Be nice to them. They make your world better.
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I work in an office where the phones ring constantly, both the landlines and everyone’s cell phone, which is to be expected I suppose, but there is a very handy little invention that will actually record a message from someone if you miss their call, and it drives me absolutely CRAZY when I am in a meeting with my boss and he not only answers his desk phone, but will also answer his cell phone. Or respond to text messages. Using voice-recognition software. And it makes no difference if a client (who is paying by the hour) is sitting in the room too.
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Getting together with a friend I haven’t seen in ages, and they’re constantly checking their phone. Am I not entertaining enough for you? Drink more, I get funner.
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Friends who “have” to spend five minutes checking in to Foursquare, Gowalla, FB, etc as soon as we sit down to dinner at a restaurant. So rude.
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I go to a ballet fitness class in which we are all very focused and centered — except for the girls along the barre who text while we plie. Really.
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I can handle people checking mobile devices while we are having a conversation. What Really gripes me is a person NEVER, not even once, looking up from the mobile device during the conversation. It makes me crazy!
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when I’m meeting with someone, I don’t check my phone. I know it’s hard to expect that from others but I can only control myself.
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I hate when people leave me a voicemail telling me to call them, but don’t say what they need. Please give me a heads up so I can be prepared when I return your call.
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I hated it when the train would be delayed for whatever reason on New Jersey Transit and most of us would sit there and read our books or whatever but there was always one person in the car that would call someone and complain loudly for as long as the delay was about how awful the delay was. Made the delay 10x worse than it needed to be.
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having people text while IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONVERSATION. wha? am i really that boring? i realize there are emergencies, but at least say something instead of forcing me to pretend i didnt notice you TYPING WHILE NOT TALKING TO ME.
ugh.
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When people pick up the phone and do all the regular intro chatting before deciding to tell you you’re on speaker phone and the whole fam-damily is there listening to you inquiring about them. And by people, I specifically mean my father-in-law. Speakerphone is not for casual calls, it’s for when you want to talk but your hands are full blending margaritas.
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