Yesterday on the subway I really thought about going and standing next to the man playing videos on his phone, with my own phone playing some video at top volume positioned right next to his head. And then, when he looked up at me, looking back at him and saying, “Kind of irritating? Isn’t it?”
Maybe I am cowardly because I decided not to. I thought about it for a while though.
I love the dirbags who hold their phone like a slice of pizza, then shout in the mic because the speakerphone is so loud it ducks the level all the time. It’s hard to use a phone worse if you tried.
There’s no reality TV cameras, Phaleeshya. Use your phone like a phone.
i just play some nerd shit super loud on mine and they generally get the hint and then i turn mine off after
I blame the Nextel phone circa 2001 or so, and then when it extended to boost mobile and a wider audience for conditioning people to get used to this type of thing.
For the younger crowd it was a cell phone with a “walkie talkie” feature. Initially marketed towards contractors and such as a phone that was easier to use on job sites because the walkie talkie feature allowed instant communication rather than waiting for a cell phone call that had ringing and waiting for an answer.
Unlike normal walkie talkies it was backed by cellular networks so the range was basically infinite, the feature worked as long as you had compatible hardware so even if you weren’t on the same plan you could “beep” people, and it gained popularity quickly because this was the McMansion era where contractors were hired en masse by development companies that built the suburbia hell we have now, who in turn were encouraged to buy these phones and also tended to buy them for their families so they could “beep” them too. It gained even further popularity because the “beep” feature often didn’t count as phone usage in an era where unlimited plans did not exist and metered phone and texting plans were the norm. Lots of elder millennials can tell you about the time they got a $1200+ cell phone bill in 2006 talking/texting with their friends or crush, dark times.
I am so glad they died out. It was a scourge. I was in high school at the time and worked in restaurants throughout. In a short time it went from the etiquette being people being mad about cell phone ringers going off constantly to this nightmare scenario of “chirp chirp HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING” because again these acted as walkie talkies so there was no ringing, it was just a loud ass speakerphone with a person talking, immediately. When boost mobile came around they capitalized on this and marketed it as the “where you at” phone. Terrible
I remember this. I didn’t hate it (perhaps because I lived with headphones in whether I was listening to anything or not), in order to regulate and prevent sensory overload.
On the other hand, I also do remember and did hat that apps tried to replicate it in the 2000’s and even the 2010’s and that was during a time when I was in the military and my roommate/her husband used this feature.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been woken up because one or the other of them was using this “feature”. I can tell you that they didn’t stay my roommate for long as a result.
As someone who had to carry one of these for work at the time -
One of the most ridiculous things about it, was that you didn’t have to use the speakerphone with the walkie talkie feature. You could hold it up to your ear like a regular cell phone, talk at a normal volume, hear the other person perfectly fine, and actuate the PTT with your thumb (or index finger if left handed) when necessary.
There was zero reason to use it as obnoxiously as most people did.
The guy who had his phone on speaker but was also holding it like normal baffled me.
I’ve never had the balls but I always wanted to play my own music, turn it up max. Then point the speaker at them.
Maybe, just maybe, they’d get the passive aggressive hint.
I have fantasized of doing exactly that but with the most annoying song I can think of. Something along the lines of Crazy Frog or Hampster Dance.
Maybe “Seele mein” by Eisregen for that existential dread. Problem is, the song is in German.
We all hate these people.
Its the same people driving dodge rams and not putting their cart away.
And I dare say, I bet a lot of them are republicans.
And with cart stand across the aisle trying to decide which cookie to buy.
From personal experience, this absolutely isn’t unique to a specific political side. Dodge Ram, sure. But being a complete asshat who doesn’t care about others is far more widespread then that.
We failed when acting like an asshole changed from being rudeness and the implied lack of civilisation and instead became a sign of dominance, like in a wildlife documentary.
They’re just “alphas”… Trapped little pissants trying desperately to control any aspect of their life that they’ve utterly failed to develop in to a satisfactory existence. If only they’d realize it wasn’t everyone around them’s fault, and instead direct their ire at the rich pieces of shit draining any and all wealth from society.
I can kind of see some people, especially with face time or something, using it for safety purposes. Like if they are out walking or something.
Kind of like making noises on a trail to avoid bears.
But when you’re with the herd, you’re probably safer than you think.
There is a DIRECT correlation between this shit and removing the headphone jack.
When you can get earphones for $2 at the local servo, it’s easy. When you’re looking at $300 earbuds or six week shipping for cheap chinese knockoffs, you just use the speaker
It’s a shame, because I would totally buy some cheap but good wired ones to keep in my bag and hand to people doing this shit if things still had the jack.
Much more powerful than telling someone they’re being a dick.
Doubt.
The people described didn’t give a shit then and don’t give a shit now. It’s not the unavailability of headphones causing people to suddenly be rude and self-centered.
There was a significant minority of people that only cared enough if it was easy for them to do so. It’s now harder, so there’s more people that gave up even trying.
I mean you can get USB earbuds for $7 on Amazon… It’s not like it’s hard.
Big “and then everybody in class clapped” energy here.
If someone starts filming you because you told them off, you gotta go “Wait are you filming already? Nooo, you gotta wait for me to be ready! Ahem… CANT BELIEVE you’re blasting music on the train with no headphones and other people around, you cot no consideratie for other people on the train, ope I said train too many times lemme go again…” And then it just looks like a set up bit that nobody will believe was real.
Lol yooo got set up good though, that was epic.
you are a festering polyp on the anus of society
pure poetry 👌
I can’t think of a single item of media that would be so goddamn urgent I had to play it aloud in public, except maybe news announcements of things that will be in history books.
They won’t be in history books if Dear Leader deems them alternative facts.
Probably wouldn’t hurt if all the phone manufacturers hadn’t decided to remove the input for the most widely used and cheapest style of headphone connector
Don’t get me wrong, I hate the loss of the 3.5mm jack a lot, but bluetooth earbuds have gotten down to ~$20. On the cheap end, they’re not that much more expensive than wired earbuds were, and they’re a fraction of the price of the smartphone they’d be watching content on. I’d also argue that they last longer, as when I was buying cheap wired earbuds, it was usually the jack or the connection to the bud that failed and forced me to get replacements. Even though I’m still buying the cheapest kind, these days I usually only have to replace the buds after I lose them.
You have to pick a higher end phone and a lower end earbuds to get to ‘a fraction of the price’ in realistic terms. The very cheapest headphones aren’t going to sound good or last long, and are still going to be in the range of 1/5th of the price of a budget phone vs 1/16 out something that is more in line with calling something ‘a fraction of’ something.
You know, phones with audio jacks also have bluetooth, right? There are also several kinds of headphones with removable/replacable wires.
It is still unquestionably a removal of choice and convenience for the shitheads to have removed the jack.
A usb c to aux adapter is under $5 You can get usb c headphones for under $10
The bigger problem as is really emphasized by this post is that people just don’t care how their actions are affecting others. If I am using Bluetooth headphones and the battery dies that means I don’t get to listen to music anymore, it doesn’t mean now everyone else has to listen to my music.
Pro tip. If you turn the volume down and hold it to your ear you can still listen to whatever without anyone else hearing. Like we used to be able to hear the other end of the line without others hearing in the old days when we used phones to phone people.
Not really the point, it costs, people need to buy it, not doing it is easier.
My wired headphones (Sony MH410c) cost me three euros. But those were often included when buying a Sony phone. A decade ago you automatically had headphones when buying a phone.
Still doesn’t make it alright, but it’s let’s accessible now and I can see that leading to a societal change.
The bar for not being a piece of shit shouldn’t be so low that the only way to stop people from blasting music/videos is to give them free headphones with every purchase…
The issue is not the free headphones that aren’t there, it’s that people think having no headphones is an excuse to create an acousting hellscape for everyone around them.
We can only solve that issue by telling people all the time until they stop doing it. It seems the reason it’s happening more and more is just because many others wear headphones and stare at their phones and no longer observe their surroundings. Strange times.
My phone literally doesn’t support those, pops up a little warning and everything.
USB Sound card with an OTG adapter works but like, come, that’s horseshit.
Sweet, now how do i put a USB-C port on my phone
There are some old iPhones that you can get a lightning to aux adapter for also under $5 but besides that what phone doesn’t come with a usb C and doesn’t have an aux?
The point really doesn’t change though, if you don’t have headphones that work then don’t listen to anything instead of disturbing others
