Have you also noticed that the Japanese will wear a face mask on the plane if they have a cold, so as not to spread the germs to other passengers? There is a lot to be said for the polite Japanese way of doing things.

Uh, I think they are people who are very susceptible to colds who don't want to get one.

Sure would be nice to implement the "cone of silence" from the Get Smart era

They're mobile phones or a PCS not cell phones. It's not 1990 anymore and very few people are using cellular technology.

....like a telephone booth. :p How they are missed.

:eek: WHAAAAA?

I had a mobile in the USA back in '87, and was the first person in our London and then Amsterdam offices to carry one in '88 and '89. I certainly don't remember seeing them in Japan in '90 but they were plentiful in Chicago and Detroit back then.

Some people are just more easily annoyed than others. It's mildly impolite to talk loudly on your phone in an aircraft, but it doesn't particularly bother me. OTOH, if the phones are ever allowed for the duration of the flight, THAT would surpass my annoyance threshold. For a few minutes on the ground, I can handle it. But, that's just me.

As to whether public should adjust its manners to accommodate the most easily annoyed person or only the least easily annoyed person, that's the eternal issue. Everybody thinks his level of irritability is the norm, but it's not. We all have pet peeves that bother few others, for example. IMHO, life's too short to let the annoyances affect your mood. Just relax, and it will pass.

What if they were?
 

I think it would be especially irritating if they were chatting to one another. :D

Cellphones on Planes
 

Cellphones don't annoy...People do. Well, actually...The RINGERS annoy. Put them on vibrate already for one thing, people! Please?!

There's nothing wrong with the technology. The problem is that whereas most people at least TRY to be discreet when having a conversation face-to-face (say, on an airplane), they don't when on the phone. People tend to speak at least twice as loudly as they would otherwise. I and my most-respected friends know to be discreet about their phone usage...Every now and again I come across a stranger who does, too. But it's rare. And regrettable. It's easy: You just speak at a consciously-low volume, and leave the table (or whatever)...Which you can't do on an airplane. So my vote is for no cellphones on planes.

Also, as mentioned in a previous post, it can be very disorienting and doubly-intrusive when you only hear one end of a conversation. Blah blah blah...pause...Blah Blah Blah Blah...pause...pause...pause...Blah, blah, blah...

And finally, regarding Tokyo: You'll notice on the subway that nearly EVERYONE is using their cell phone. They're TEXTING or SURFING with them in silence. Oh, the strange and blissful silence of the Tokyo subway. I believe it's actually disallowed to talk on your phone in the subway.

The term seems to have stuck in North America.

^

I'm still back on Page 1 trying to figure out how this woman was talking to herself while her hands were walking down the street, apparently unattended. THIS is what happens when people are too distracted by their mobile phones. :D

GG

So PCS phones don't rely on a cellular network of transmitters?

The Loudness is an American Trait
 

I have been in various European countries where it is common for people to speak softly into their mobile phones in public. If you didn't look at them, you wouldn't even hear them from few feet away. It's not the phone use that's the problem, it's the unnecessarily loud voices

I find that the "Cell Phone Jerks" are often the same folks who have their phones strapped to their belts. I've seen guys with as many as 4 different devices hooked on here and there, and I usually nudge my wife and ask if she wants to go get Batman's autograph. Cripes, when a phone rings, I expect to see a go-go-gadget arm pop out to grab the phone and hold it up to the guy's ear.

To me, cell phones on the belt are for guys who want to show off that they HAVE a cell phone, or they are SO important that they have to be able to quick-draw if it rings.