I understand that there really aren't any rules/standards (beyond basic courtesy which is surely lacking) in the "public" areas of airports such as the gatehouse, but it would be a big improvement is SC agents would simply enforce some rules. There's no excuse for a loud cellphone or (worse as you hear both sides of the "conversation") Skype conversation in a quiet zone (nor for walking a screaming baby there) and anyone who is playing a video at full volume laced with expletives in a lounge should be immediately ejected. Then there was the time someone behind me was watching a birthday party (of course with repeated attempts at drunken and off-key singing of the happy birthday to you song) video (of course without headphones) on board during the safety announcements so that at least several rows in front and behind the offender could not hear a word of the emergency information.

Some parents seem to think that having kids gives them a free pass to encourage (yes, I said encourage, not just tolerate) their offspring to run and scream in airports and on airplanes, with the parents sometimes joining in the fun to demonstrate to their children that consideration of others neither expected nor necessary. Could it be that conception or childbirth makes one (at least selectively) deaf or are parents just so accustomed to the shouts of their children that they're oblivious? If kids behave 24/7 the way some of them do in airports and on airplanes, I can't imagine how anyone can stand it. This seems to be the opposite of evolution predicting that parents are especially attuned to the cries of their own offspring.