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 cannot stand it when someone is in line at the checkout and still on the phone. It gives the impression that the cashier is a nobody and the customer doesn’t care about them. Drives me bananas.
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Complaining about traffic while you’re on the phone with me. Even if you’re using a hands-free device, it’s just about as good as talking about the weather, there’s nothing I can do about it, and trust me, my traffic is worse.
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people texting and responding to emails when driving – rather disconcerting to see their head down when you are driving next to them
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well, i’m going to have to go with 2.
1- folks blabbing on the phone at the gym. you can’t make it 20 minutes on the eliptical without chatting? you’re that important?!
2- teenagers, sharing a chair, texting each other the entire time while in a room full of other people. just wait to talk about everyone else after they’re gone!
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i find it horrible when i have dinner with someone and then their phone rings, they say ”can i take this call? it’ll be only a second”, and then the call takes a half hour ..
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Texting in general annoys me. I’m so sorry everyone! I know there are times when texting is great, but on the whole most times people can pick up their phones and call others. They are just trying to keep in touch without really keeping in touch.
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I work in a medical office at the reception desk. It’s really annoying(read rude) when someone, especially a new patient, comes flying in, probably late, talking on their mobile while I am trying to get them checked in. Then instead of ending the call, they continue on talking and I need to repeatedly interrupt to finish the process. Oh, mind you, we do have a sign that asks that people turn off their mobiles, and I might be able to mention it where I to have someones full attention. {end of rant} This is only seconded by people who come up to the check in desk with a burrito in hand and a mouthful of food ( I kid you not)
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I’m pretty tolerant of most mobile use, but what bugs me the most was when my husband had notifications for emails on his crackberry. Every few minutes it would buzz and he would look at it. It was positively Pavlovian! I say if you are talking to someone in person, that takes precedence over talking to someone online!
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I only tolerate loud cell phone conversations on the bus when it’s an interesting discussion. This has only happened about five times in the past 10 years.
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I can’t stand it when teenagers play music from their phones out loud on the bus – ALMOST understandable if they’re with a friend or two, but just downright rude if they’re by themselves. It makes me feel like an old fogey (I’m 29), but I don’t care – it’s annoying!!
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Talking on the phone or texting when you are on a date. Said date can be with a new guy/gal, your spouse or even your BFF. But, if you have made the effort to make plans to spend time with someone, then SPEND TIME WITH THEM. Don’t split your attention.
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Anyone who is so inconsiderate that I have to know more about them than I want.
Which is pretty much everyone.
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I absolutely hate it when people text while we’re out to dinner together.
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Crying into your phone in public is awkward for everyone. If you’re going to get cross when people approach you to see if you’re okay, go cry and chat somewhere private.
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Having my colleague checking her phone/email/texts, and sometimes replying, while we are having a conversation about how much it bothers her when students do it in class.
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I hate when I am stuck at a light multiple rounds due to people not noticing when the light turns green b/c they are on their phone. They always seem to gun it when it’s yellow and leaves me at a red light. Argh!
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I just encountered one yesterday: people who talk on their phone in the stall of a public restroom. I mean really, your conversation can’t wait until you’re done? Not to mention the seeming unsanitary-ness of it. Ugh.
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It drives me bonkers when people are crossing the street or sidewalk while texting, very obviously NOT paying attention to cars or bicycles and just presuming that everyone will stop for them.
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I’m pretty sure I’d spoon that bag too. Which might make my husband jealous. Oh well. I’m skinny, he’s skinny, there’s probably room for all three of us in the bed
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I get annoyed when someone’s phone rings during a movie. Silent. Mode.
Also, I want this bag. SO VERY MUCH. C’mon, random number generator, work with me. 🙂
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Being sent multiple/extraneous/redundant texts… because what is the point of texting if not concise?
Texts weren’t meant for small talk either, that is what telephone calls are for 🙂
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Nothing new, here but I really just hate when people put their digital conversation above the one they are having with you. Be it a friend, check-out person, drive-through, whatever. These people in front of you? THEY are the priority right now.
And let’s face it, the very same advice can be given to driving!
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it annoys me when people begin to text while we are having a conversation!
What an awesome bag! would love to win!
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I hate it when the iPhone makes an appearance in bed. There is nothing you need to check / research / prove to me so badly that it can’t wait until you’re out of the sack.
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My pet peeve is when I am having a conversation with someone and they take out their iPhone to check their e-mail or text in the midst of our conversation.
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not waiting to listen to a voice message but just calling back
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My husband is guilty of my biggest pet peeve: I’ll send a detailed text (ie: how the kids are doing with latest sickness, or what is needed from grocery store) and then the reply will LITERALLY be a 2 or 3 letter word. Yes, No, Heh, Ok, it goes ON and on. If I’m taking the time to send you a message which in a real conversation would require more than a one word answer, return the favour and reply appropriately!
A close second? A friend who uses “text speak” (U for you, R for are, y for why, etc etc etc) even though she has a damn qwerty phone and has unlimited texting so there is literally no reason for it. Oy.
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As a teacher, I CANNOT STAND when people take a call during a parent teacher conference. This has actually happened. I also once had a dad on his cell doing big business, quite loudly, while on the bus heading to a field trip. Not cool, sir.
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Sometimes my sweet husband forgets to silence his phone at night. At 3am it alerts us to his incoming message from Singapore. Oops. 🙂
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It bugs me when people don’t get off the phone when at the cashier in a store.
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When you are in line to check out and pay for your stuff and people are talking on the phone! Drives me crazy~!!!!!
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Yoga Teacher Training class, we’re talking about how to handle student etiquette issues, and one of the teacher-in-training’s phone rings and rings and rings, until finally she exclaims, “Oh! That’s me! How rude!”
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I used to work in retail and I hated it when people would talk on their cellphone while at the cash register. Can’t you just put the phone down for a couple minutes until you are out of the store?
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I’m most scared of people talking ad texting while driving. I hate seeing how other drivers get so caught up in their phone calls. When you’re driving tons of steel around near me and people I love, please pay attention to what you’re doing.
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When you are having a conversation with a friend on the phone, and suddenly you hear that tell-tale “tap tap tap” of their keyboard on the other end as their voice becomes distracted…is facebook really that important?!? I have actually gone online at the same time & posted my displeasure on their wall!
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Cute bag!
My pet peeve is. Def when people who are eating with me carry on text conversations instead of conversing with others at the table.
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I asked my 5 year old and her answer was “hang up”. I guess when she goes on a tangent, the people that are on the other end hang up after a while. Haha!
Thanks for the giveaway!
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checking personal messages while on a personal get togehter. (i.e., you’ve made plans with me, Friend A; why do you need to check in with Friend B while we are at lunch?)
This is different from checking work messages, to me. I get it that on lunch dates during the week, people sometimes have to check work messages on their blackberry or whatever.
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When someone replies to a well-crafted email with “okay” or some other short, cursory phrase. At least sign your name, please!
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Probably people who leave their mobile phone on the table at lunch. Ugh. It’s like they are ‘waiting’ for something better to come along.
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… the single letter response, “k”.
k.
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I really detest when people using their phones when driving. Two hands on the wheel makes a safer driver!!
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hearing my cell ring, then my house phone, then my husbands phone…we’re not answering people..leave a message!
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When you are at a nice restaurant and someone has their bluetooth earpiece on and the flashing blue light is distracting. UGH! Take it off! You shouldn’t be on the phone when you are eating!
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I get really annoyed when people text me superfluous “K”s and the like. We’ll be winding up a conversation, and everything will be settled, and then I get a stupid single letter that I have to unlock my phone to “read” so it doesn’t buzz every 3 seconds for the rest of my life.
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I. LOVE. THAT. BAG.
These comments are cracking me up :). I too hate getting voicemails with no info. Tell me why you called. Please. I already know that you called.
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I hate it when people “check in” and tag me without telling me. This just happened last Friday–my sister-in-law and mother-in-law were in town (they live 50 miles away and came into the Big City for an appointment) and I met them for lunch. My SIL tagged me when she checked in at the restaurant and I had no idea. It was a long lunch, followed by a little shopping, and I got back to work late. A co-worker (with whom I’m friends on FB) asked where I had been. Like a deer in the headlights, I lied and said I went to my sister’s apartment, a block away, because I wasn’t feeling well and needed to lay down for a bit. Then I checked my e-mail and noticed I had been tagged in the check in, over two and a half hours before that. Well, $%^& me. Busted.
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My peeve is when I’m checking out at a store and the store clerk is on their personal mobile phone…this is tied with when I’m in a public restroom and I have to hear someone in the next stall talking on their phone.
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I was actually watching the movie about Facebook in a theater when the girl sitting three down from me checked her OWN facebook account about 23 times. It’s like every time they said the word Facebook it reminded her to check it. Argh!
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when in the middle of being served in a shop and the assisstant answers the phone and make you wait urghhhhh so annoying
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