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 
Answering ones phone in the library or even worse in the bathroom!
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People who talk on the phone when ordering in a restaurant, checking out in a store or otherwise dealing with someone who is trying to help them. So rude.
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Oooo I hate it when you’re mid conversation and someone picks up their phone only to half pay attention and start texting. That or answering my phone call only to tell me they’ll call me back.
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I’m really (really) not a fan of talking to someone while they are also on the phone/texting/checking in. Just — wait to call me or ask me something until you have a second to spare, okay?! The gift bag looks awesome …
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really can’t deal with people continuing a cellphone convo while going to the bathroom. i don’t want to hear that while i’m talking to you. GROSS!
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I cannot stand people who insist upon texting while pushing a shopping cart through a store. This keeps happening to me! I’m out happily running down my to-buy list and cruising the aisles, until I end up trapped against a wall of salad dressing trying to stay out of the way of a texter-gone-rampant careening toward me.
And if they’re not barreling toward me at warp speed, then they’re competing with the hare at tortoise speed blocking the aisle exit.
GAH!
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My pet peeve is when people answer the phone in a stall in public restroom. I don’t mind so much that they’re talking in there… it’s when all of the sudden you’re sitting next to an occupied stall and hear “hello?”. Are they talking to me? I never know until it’s too late.
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As much as I used to worry about her not having a cell phone, I now rue the day my Grandmothehr went mobile. Her hearing isn’t great so whether we’re at a restaurant or shopping together- the entire world hears her conversations. One of my younger cousins put a ridiculous “Help! Get me out of your pocket!” ringtone that is on full volume (again, lousy hearing, yet can never be located in less than 5 “rings”. I’m mortified each and every time we go out into public.
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Pulling out the phone, for almost any reason, on date night…OH, SNAP.
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Agree with all the above, but I think my biggest pet peeve is obnoxious ring tones. I’m all for a discrete ring tone, ideally just vibration. And don’t get me started on how I feel about people scrolling through all their ring tones in public.
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Easy – I hate people on cell phones (talking of course) in public bathrooms…
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Texting while walking. Now that I have a big ole pregger belly I’ve gotten the courage to (politely) say “Look up!” when people are about to run into me or a pole, cause I’m nice.
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I HATE it when I’m out with friends and people are checking their e-mails & voicemails, sending texts, or playing games! I can understand if it’s an emergency, but it never is. Put the phone down when you’re in a social situation. Seriously.
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Checking your phone while having a conversation with someone else. Eyes up here, people!
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I hate it when people have long conversations when they are hanging out with you. I’m sure this isn’t a big deal for most people – I don’t have a cell phone (GASP!) so to me it is just so obvious that if you are engaging with real human people it better be an emergency for you to talk on the phone for more than five minutes when we are hanging out.
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Texting while driving is the worst. It’s bad mobile manners AND bad driving manners. Not to mention dangerous!
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Arrgh! Where to start? People talking on their phone whilst driving the car – that really is annoying and, don’t they know, dangerous?! “Heard of handsfree or car mobile kit?”, I want to ring them up and shout down the phone. Not while I’m driving of course. Also, people who talk on the phone the whole time whilst they drop their preschooler off to childcare. That has to be the height of rudeness, and to their own child! Could it really not wait a few minutes?
BTW – I so love that bag, and love the idea of the Mobile Manners Brunch! Lucky ladies!
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This is more phone etiquette, but people who talk to other people or their PETS, or anything else, while on the phone with me. Either we’re having a phone conversation or not. I don’t want to listen to you talk/yell at your child or dog or whomever, no matter what’s going on.
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business etiquette pet peeve: accept a meeting and then don’t show, or show up horrifically late.
personal etiquette pet peeve: don’t acknowledge a kindness (on any level – from a spoken compliment, to letting you cut at the last minute into my lane on the freeway, to a gift given)
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My mobile pet peeve is definitely coworkers using their mobile in the bathroom, especially while in the bathroom stall. Bonus points if they’re also on a work call, because we all recognize the jet-engine-loud sound of the office restroom toilets when we hear it because you, additionally, forgot to mute yourself!
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Oh man, people pulling out their phones in movies and texting, tweeting, whatever for 5 minutes. So obnoxious. And one more reason why I haven’t been to a movie theater in over 6 months.
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I know this is my own personal pet peeve and isn’t actually bad etiquette, but I also hate it when people call me instead of e-mailing, particularly because many of these people already KNOW that I hate the phone and rarely check voicemail.
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I really hate when people TYPE IN ALL CAPS!!
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Biggest pet peeve? People talking on their phones while checking out of a store or ordering food or any other activity in which they should be engaged with the person that is actually physically standing there.
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Absent-mindedly checking one’s phone while in the middle of a conversation with someone in real life, drives me crazy 🙂
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It drives me batty when people wait for the chorus of their ringtone song to play out before answering.
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If I call someone and they answer the phone, but they are CLEARLY not in a place or frame of mind in which they can actually have a conversation. PLEASE don’t answer the phone. Conversely, if you are calling me, please finish the conversation/meal/email writing you are in the middle of when you call ME. I think the ubiquity of mobile phones and other devices has made (some) people completely forget phone etiquette and general decency. Booo.
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Those that don’t know an advice has been beaten to death and still want to keep on offering advices.
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When it’s a two person meal and someone spends more than a brief moment or two answering texts or emails on their phone, especially mid-conversation, especially without an apology or justification. I’ll just be awkwardly here with my soup.
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Leaving the text message notifying alert on. Honestly everyone! You check the thing a million times a day anyway, there really is no need to be ALERTED when you have a text. Trust me. Life is much more relaxed when YOU decide when to look at your phone. Plus the damn thing ringing or buzzing every fifteen minutes makes the people you’re with think they’re not worth your immediate attention! Rant over.
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i spent a good part of the weekend complaining about people who leave me voicemails even though my outgoing message says “you’ll get a faster response if you email me”. i travel incessantly, and email is easier and less rude in the confined spaces travelers find themselves in. help me not be one of those people the other 223 people in the comments are complaining about and send me an email instead.
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My husband texts from the passenger seat when he should be co-piloting. I need a second set of eyes to find the good parking spots.
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My biggest pet peeve would be people who text while having a 1-on-1 live conversation with someone else, then act surprised that they miss 1/2 of the live conversation. Focus please.
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when you choose not to check in on facebook, so your friend does it for you. 12 times.
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I really dislike withen people leave incredibly long voicemails. Please, just wait for me to call and then have a conversation with me!
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It’s sort of a peeve, sort of a bad habit, but being constantly on the smartphone while you’re hanging out with friends. I was at a bar with 3 other friends and the times when there were fewer than 3 phones out were rare.
Maybe I’m just bitter because I don’t have so many people to talk to that I need to be always on the Internet/texting/facebooking.
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When the person you’re talking to gets a text and they tune out of the conversation to start talking to someone else
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I *hate* when people have their nose stuck in the phone while driving. You are REALLY not so important that you have to endanger my life and the life of my family/child. Also…when you try to carry on a conversation with a person and they can’t look away from the screen long enough to make eye contact. RUDE.
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My mobile pet peeve is when someone doesn’t take the time to learn cell phone basics like how to silence the ringer. I don’t know how many times I’ve been talking with someone or sitting in a meeting when some cheesy song/tune disrupts everything. Then the music keeps going, and going, and going. Sometimes they announce that they don’t know how to make it stop or sometimes they act like they don’t even hear it. Either case makes me want to grab their phone and chuck it out the window.
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Checking the phone during meetings is the RUDEST. Seriously. Why did you even come?
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My biggest peeve, and its happened more than once, is having the person in the stall next to me in a pubic bathroom continue to talk while they’re doing their business. If you’re going to poop and talk on the phone at home, fine, but while you’re in public, please fake some decency.
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I think its unbelievable when people pull out their phone to text or, even worse, take pictures during a live play. People around you are annoyed, and even worse, actors can see it from the stage. I can even see it from the wings of the stage, where I hang out. There is nothing more distracting, except maybe that hacking cough you can’t seem to shake off.
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When I’m having a conversation and they get a notification and read their text and start answering it! How rude!
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I teach scrapbooking classes, and nothing annoys me more than the couple of ladies that put their phone on vibrate and put it on the table. I can still hear it, it’s still distracting. But then they get a text and reply to it and then have the nerve to ask me to repeat all the instructions I just gave. I’ve had to say something and it makes ME feel like the bad person.
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My peeve was recently discovered: when my aunt uses her cell phone integrated via bluetooth over the car speakers. While I’m in the car. I can’t speak, or hum, or cough because she’s on the phone! And how weird for the person she’s calling! It’s mostly business calls, but still. Gah!
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Absolutely hate listening to the chirp of a Nextel Direct Connect while eating at a fine restaurant. Argh.
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It is very annoying when someone is listening to the music player on their phone without a headset. Especially if we are in a confined area. I had that happen for the entire hour I was waiting at the DMV. Thank you for the giveaway opportunity!
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For me, its texting during dinner. Or answering a phone call and not excusing yourself- just sitting there at the table talking unnecessarily loud.
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Like lots of other commenters, people who talk on their phones while interacting with service staff drive me crazy.
I also think people should just text me instead of leaving voicemails. It’s so much simpler.
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I rather dislike people who speak on the mobile phones and yell..like the person on the other end of the phone is so far away! Especially in a restaurant and in the middle of a meal. Thank you.
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