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 
Mobile devices are great. Really. But do I need to be that accessible? All the time? To everyone at every second?
Hooray for voicemail
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When someone checks their phone for anything while engaged in a live conversation with me. I always stop to let them finish what they are doing before continuing the conversation. When they say, “No I’m listening, I just need to check…” drives me crazy!
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I can’t stand it when people answer the phones when we are having dinner together. Unless you are a doctor and someone needs you right now, silence your phone until we finish eating!
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I am so frustrated by people who call back immediately instead of leaving a message if I don’t answer. Double points if they leave a message implying that I am screening/ignoring/whatevering their imperative need for my attention RIGHT THEN.
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Woohoo! What a great giveaway. Our library used to be cellphone free and now people can use their cell phones. In the library. Ugh.
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If you get my voicemail…please do leave me a messsage. I’d like to know you called for real and that I wasn’t “pocket dialed”.
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I hate when people come to my office to have me do something for them but continue to take calls or text at the same time. Give it a rest for just a minute or two, please.
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Fun giveaway!
I think my mobile pet peeve is people who leave their phones on during live theatre. At the cinema, yes it’s incredibly annoying but at least the actors aren’t going to hear it. When you’re at a play/muscial or whatever, they can hear it and yes it probably will throw them off their performance!
So annoying!
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Awesome give away. Mobile pet peeve…texting/emailing while driving.
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Great giveaway! I love technology but my mobile pet peeve is when someone is trying on clothes in the ladies change room and they are giving details of the dress or of life yada yada yada… to someone on the other end. That as well as being in the ladies stall in the washroom… imagine what the person on the other end would think if they only knew that you were having a conversation with them while you were on the loo:)
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It is a little pet peeve of mine when conversations are held at the noise level of a construction zone when sitting in the commuter train at 5am on a Monday morning. No big deal, but I might be tempted to curse you and your (perhaps) future children in my head and give you many dirty looks.
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People talking loudly on the bus or train is what gets me. Especially if they’re in the seat next to or behind me, talking directly into my ear.
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I get so annoyed when you are out with a friend trying to think of where to go, and they spend forever scrolling through Yelp or some other restaurant/bar app on their phone. While I stand there blankly – waiting for the discussion to restart.
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I live in Florida – many senior citizens, many with hearing problems. I hear a lot of yelling into cell phones … mostly about the weather “up there”. I honestly don’t know which part annoys me more!
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Biggest mobile etiquette pet peeve? When someone calls you, you pick up, and then they proceed to have a conversation with someone else while ignoring your repeated “Hello?”s. If you weren’t ready to discuss whatever you were calling for, don’t dial the number! I now hang up if they don’t respond after two “Hello?”s.
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I dislike it when I’m talking to someone and in the middle of the conversation they have to “check” their phones. The thing wasn’t even ringing/vibrating/whatever!
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I hate it when people talk on their phones while checking out at the grocery store/boutique/coffee shop…it is so rude to the clerk!
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Just one peeve? I’ll go with one I was just reminded of the other night – texting at the movies. It’s just as distracting as talking (to my little brain)…once I see it glowing in all its glory I can’t focus on the movie.
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Hi! I hate it when people talk on the phone while making a purchase. It slows everything down and it’s just rude… to everyone. I think we can all afford to put our phones down for just a few miutes while we pay for our things. If not, that’s what online shopping is for. 🙂
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I find it SUPER sad/annoying that people nowadays only experience things through the screen of their smart phones. They make crappy videos of EVERYTHING! at concerts, recitals, dinner-whatever! I wish people would just put their phones away and experience life firsthand- through their own eyes, without a screen between them and the rest of the world… I wish people would just marvel at life and keep the memories in their heart not their iphone! there, I said it! I’m of the “dumbphone” conviction…
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A good friend of mine once conducted an entire business conversation over his mobile phone in the middle of our lunch with his family. He just kept talking while we kept eating and chatting. Ugh. But since he was such a good friend, I let it go. Three strikes you’re out but that was only the first strike, ever…
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I’m a vet, and I really dislike it when people answer their phones while in an appointment with me. Check the phone, sure. Send call to voicemail, no prob. Even send a quick text! just don’t answer the effing thing while I’m trying to ask you about the quality of your dog’s poop. 🙂
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The worst has to be when you are out for dinner with a friend who checks her Twitter feed every five minutes, and sits there chuckling to herself. Hi!, if you’re going to be rude, at least let me in on the joke, jerk!
You can probably tell this is a true story…
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Pretty much everything everyone else said. The loud bus talker and overuse of texting language, especially. This entire thread is hilarious and sad.
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People who stay on the phone when they are at the cash register somewhere. As though the cashier at the local coffee shop is some huge disturbance to your call.
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Texting while you’re having a conversation with me!
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I live in a state in which phone calls and texting while driving is not yet illegal. I get irate when I drive along and see somebody proudly resting his or her PDA on the steering wheel and typing away. Aaaaaaagggggghhhhhh!
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I am guilty of several pet peeves listed here. I am a total text/email/Twitter/etc user, so I’m bothered by people who want to voice call to relay a simple message that could have been a 30 second text. Particularly annoying is a long rambling voicemail that could have been condensed to a short text!
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Students texting during class drive me up a wall, and people who leave a long voicemail and end with, I’ll just e-mail you the information! Why didn’t you just do that in the first place!
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Do not text/email/tweet when we are having a conversation. That is just plain RUDE.
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The thing that annoys me most is when someone is looking at email on your phone while we are eating dinner.
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Oh I’ve a few… most have to do with people talking loudly on them while on public transit. It is public transit not public mobile conversation for goodness sake! If I can hear you on the other side of the bus, you’re talking too loud. If I can hear you over the music playing through my headphones, you’re talking too loud.
The other one is calling multiple times but never leaving a message. If it is so critical that you call me five times in 20 minutes, then just leave a message the first time and I’ll call you back.
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My biggest pet peeve (one among many for this topic!) is someone checking a newly arrived text message in the midst of a face-to-face conversation. Am I so irrelevant or boring that you need to know what someone ELSE has to say?
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i catch the same train home from work each day during which i have had to endure many conversations (thinly veiled fighting) between a mother and her (i assume) teenage son. its starting to become a little uncomfortable.
i dont think hearing people fighting over the phone while travelling on a train is something we should have to get used to!
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I work in an office and we are told to have our phones on silent while at work. A rather simple request – proper office cell-phone etiquette if you ask me. Yet, we have a few repeat offenders who continually leave their phones vibrating loudly on their desk or have some annoying ring tone. One gal in particular – always has someone call not once but several times, before they realize she just isn’t at her desk to pick up her cell-phone that should (A) be with her, not left on her desk and (B) for the love of god on SILENT! That’s my pet peeve!
I TOTALLY ???? THE CLOVER!!
….and yes, I literally ?SWOON? over this Grey Clover – it’s gorgeous in every way and in my favorite color too!
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I work in an office and we are told to have our phones on silent while at work. A rather simple request – proper office cell-phone etiquette if you ask me. Yet, we have a few repeat offenders who continually leave their phones vibrating loudly on their desk or have some annoying ring tone. One gal in particular – always has someone call not once but several times, before they realize she just isn’t at her desk to pick up her cell-phone that should (A) be with her, not left on her desk and (B) for the love of god on SILENT! That’s my pet peeve!
I TOTALLY LOVE THE CLOVER!!
….and yes, I literally SWOON over this Grey Clover – it’s gorgeous in every way and in my favorite color too!
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I think it is rude and tactless when people PRETEND they are paying attention to someone in person at the same time that they are paying FULL attention to another person by texting…all for the sake of micromanagement and time efficiency. Our society is becoming insincere and unsociable! On the positive side, would love that epiphanie!
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It annoys me when I am out to dinner with a friend and they are on their phone throughout the entire meal – texting, checking it every five minutes, etc. It makes me think “Why the hell did I bother coming to spend time with you when you’re only paying attention to your phone!”
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sending a text when you should send a call, or vice versa. date waiting outside of my building for me to come down? not the right time for a text! texts to me are things that don’t need immediate attention… meaning if i’m laying across the room from my phone, don’t expect an immediate reply.
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People talking on their phones whilst going through a checkout or something similar. It’s so rude!!
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It really really peeves me to be in the middle of a face-to-face conversation, only to realize my suddenly silent fiance is deeply involved in texting or answering email on his iPhone, and has not heard a thing I’ve said. That phone may be taking a trip over Niagara Falls without a barrel on the honeymoon!
Also, even though I hate talking on the phone, it irks me to have a 10 minute text-a-thon when a phone call would have been so much easier. Am I not allowed to call people anymore? Is it rude to make a phone call to a close friend? I seriously don’t know!
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Twittering while watching a movie…grrrrrrr.
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My pet peeve in text messages is MISSPELLINGS. I know, I know I’m an uptight English major, but it drives me crazy. In a world of increasingly compressed time, I feel time — even a few seconds to correct a misspelling — is the way to be the most gracious with folks. The way I feel about this does NOT for some odd reason apply to shorthand or abbreviations.
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People in front of me in a theater who continually check their phone. Ugh.
If you know you can’t go an hour without checking it how about you skip the movie/play/ etc…or at the very least sit in the last row.
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I think it is rude when people check their phone/email/texts while having a conversation with me.
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When people will take a call in the middle of some sort of retail or business transaction. Whether at the bank discussing their deposit, or paying for their groceries, it basically signifies that they don’t have to give you respect or attention while you are attempting to HELP THEM!
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It makes me go crazy when I send an email to someone and I make sure that the multiple questions I’m asking are clear, almost point by point and their response is “Ok” or “I’m not sure”. ARRRRGG!
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This is perhaps not as rude as texting/talking on your mobile device while interacting with human beings (friends, waitstaff, salespeople, s.o.’s) but it so gets my goat when people amble around the gym texting, walking any which way slowly or sit down on a machine and take 15 minutes to do 30 reps because the only thing they’re exercising are their thumbs or their mouths. For me, the gym is an in-and-out deal – I have a limited amount of time to work out and I’d like to make the most of it, please! By the way, the epiphanie bags are seriously awesome and have been on my wishlist this whole year, but other things (impending baby and the kit and kaboodle that that entails) have been taking precedence!
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My self-absorbed co-worker, a Blue-Toother naturally, will step into *my* office to hold her personal conversation away from the cubicle farm. When she is finished, she will leave without ever acknowledging my presence.
You look very pretty today.
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When people interrupt a conversation to answer their phone. ARRRRRGH SO RUDE. Silence it and get back to ith when we’re done, unless you’re going to put it on speaker so we can both talk to whoever it is. Or at least wait for me to say something like “Hey, do you need to get that?” And even then, unless you’re waiting on word that someone has died or you’ve won the lottery or something, JUST WAIT. I mean, I’m pretty understanding, but … you have voicemail for a reason. arrgh.
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