Stockholm bans cellphones on public transit

[ganjavih]

The most annoying cell phone experience I had was on a coach from London to Oxford late at night. Of course, English coaches are usually quiet, especially at night. On this night, there was a group of tourists in the back yapping and yelping on their cell phones, which as you could imagine is much worse when the rest of the bus is quiet. And to add my little bit of political incorrectness, they were yapping in a language that isn't one of the most pleasing to the ears. Not even the stern British glances from the rest of the passengers had any effect on these boors. It's all about context... there's a time and a place for cell phones.

 

[SD2]

I'm not saying cell phone conversations can't be irritating. There are definitely a lot of people who are loud and obnoxious.

I just don't see how it's any worse than two people having a loud or obnoxious conversation, despite the scientific reasoning. A ban is just going too far.

 

[andreapalladio]

Possilbly because conversations between people sitting together are to be expected, even encouraged, whereas cellphone conversations are completely unnecessary except in emergencies?

 

[MetroMan1000]

I just don't see how it's any worse than two people having a loud or obnoxious conversation, despite the scientific reasoning. A ban is just going too far.

You're obviously ignoring the scientific evidence provided above. Those points make complete sense, especially the social one: If it's quiet and you hear somebody speak close to you, you're trained to pay attention to the speaker because he can be talking to you. In a one sided conversation, you have to keep ignoring that cue.

I applaud the Swedes for doing this. I wish Toronto would enforce a similar law or at the very least place signs in public transit requesting people not to use their cell phones for speech.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

A conversation between two live people is easy to ignore, especially if they're talking about boring stuff or speaking a very pleasant language like Tamil. A one-sided phone conversation is virtually impossible to ignore if it's at all quiet enough to hear the person.

 

[drum118]

I can hear one sided conversations the full lenght of onbus/streetcar away over the other people taking. Even on a subway car.

Making transit 100% cellless like Stockholm cannot come fast enough.

 

[SD2]

You're obviously ignoring the scientific evidence provided above. Those points make complete sense, especially the social one: If it's quiet and you hear somebody speak close to you, you're trained to pay attention to the speaker because he can be talking to you. In a one sided conversation, you have to keep ignoring that cue.

The points may make sense, but this obviously isn't everyone's experience. Despite the scientific evidence I couldn't care less if someone was talking on the phone on the bus, anymore than I'd care if two people were having a loud conversation.

It may bother people now, but I think it's something people will very quickly adapt to. Considering the level of auditory and visual stimulation people have quickly adapted to, a one sided phone conversation will become as normal as any other background noise.

Banning cell phones outright is extreme.

I applaud the Swedes for doing this. I wish Toronto would enforce a similar law or at the very least place signs in public transit requesting people not to use their cell phones for speech.

I think a sign requesting people show some vocal restraint would be nice. It is very much possible to talk to someone on a cell phone without irritating anyone.