I was reading through the news, as I do every morning, and came across an interesting blog entry on the use of cell phones, which I’ve decided to cover here. Here’s a linky so you can read through it yourself: Top 10 Cell Phone Etiquette Rules People Break.
Let me state right off the bat that 1) I own a cellphone; and 2) I absolutely despise cell phones and if I were the King of the World, they would be the first thing to go. “What a hypocrite!” you might say, but then again my cell phone is really only for me and Miss Expatriate to communicate when necessary – there aren’t that many people that actually call me on my cellphone (I do have another friend near Taipei that does occasionally, but we usually just chat through MSN Messenger). I would have no problems getting rid of my cellphone, but Miss Expatriate makes me keep it around, just in case.
Regardless, the author of the blog entry pretty much hit the nail on the head when he said,
This ridiculous need to be in touch with all people at all times is getting out of hand, and while we think we are staying more connected with each other, we are in fact treating those closest to us like China treated the Mongols. We’re building giant walls people!
Every single day I see people having coffee “together” or walking “together” or doing something “together,” yet each of them is on their own cellphone talking/texting someone else. Do you really need to call up your friend and sit next to one another so you can communicate with other people? Cell phones do not make the world smaller and they do not bring us closer together – they build walls of separation and I see it everyday, not only in Taiwan but the same in America and Germany when I was there. That said, I’ll copy the list here and go through them.
1. Talking too loudly.
Taiwanese are big on talking loudly. In fact, the only time Taiwanese people talk quietly is when I ask my students to speak louder so I can hear them; this results in them giggling and repeating what they said even more softly so that I have to wade through a sea of desks in order to hear what they said. Other than that, Taiwanese people love talking loudly everywhere they go. Even Miss Expatriate, when she’s on the phone, feels a need to yell into it. It doesn’t matter where in the apartment she is or I am, I can still hear her. Sometimes I can hear whoever she is speaking to, as well. Many Taiwanese just enjoy being heard, I guess.
2. Holding inappropriate conversations in public.
I can’t really speak to this one, as I don’t understand most conversations I hear anyway.
3. Rudely interrupting conversations.
This one is one of my pet peeves. Many, many times I have been talking with Miss Expatriate about something that I deem important, only to be interrupted by her ringtone and her picking up the phone to start another conversation. Is there something stopping people from letting it ring or hanging it up? Don’t they have voice mail? This all goes back to building walls – if you are going to interrupt one immediate, tangible conversation for another distant conversation, you have some serious socializing problems (to her credit, Miss Expatriate is quite busy with work, being in an administrative/leadership position and often gets a lot of calls. She is getting better, though).
4. Checking your phone at the movies.
OH GOD, YOU BASTARDS! I think the Taiwanese must have been taught how to do this in grade school. Every single movie I’ve gone to in Taiwan has been interrupted by some asshat’s phone ringing and them picking it up to say “[hanzi]å–‚[/hanzi]?” (Hello?) and having a conversation during the movie. It makes me want to hire hitmen with billy clubs for my 2-hour outing that I can sick on these offenders the moment I hear the phone ringing. Not only that, but why are they always sitting right next to or behind me?
5. Texting while driving.
6. Texting while talking.
7. Texting small talk.
Texting is dumb. I’ll say that right off the bat. You are paying extra money so that you can type very slowly (and in Chinese, it’s even slower than English) to communicate with someone. In all honesty, though, I must admit that many people who text are probably doing it because talking on the cellphone would be wildly inappropriate. Kudos to them for recognizing a major social faux pas, but points are deducted for texting, which is no better. Wait until you get to a computer and send an email or just call the person. The fact that we even have a Text Messaging Championship is surely a sign of the apocalypse.
I mean, look at this guy:
8. Loud and annoying ringtones.
I enjoy the Kung-Fu Fighting song, too. Just not during my class. Turn it off.
9. Disturbing live performances.
This goes along with talking during the movies. Being a teacher, I often have students who answer their cell phones, text, or play games during class. Even though I ask them to turn it off, you’d think that people’s hearts were hardwired into their Samsungs like a Macgyverish-pacemaker. There’s no way anyone is turning off their cellphone. So I have a simple rule: if your cell phone rings during class, you have time to turn it off. If you pick it up, answer it, text, play games or anything else, you’re out. Done. Finished. You can wait 1 hour to talk to your best friend.
Believe it or not, I’ve even seen teachers duck out of class, in the middle of a lecture or student performance, to answer their cell phones. As an educationist, this is just wrong, wrong, wrong on so many levels.
10. Location location location
This ties in to #2, in that I don’t understand most of what is being talked about anyway, but in my opinion the only locations you should be talking on your cellphone are 1) your home; 2) your office; and 3) anwyhere private. Anywhere else, and you are wrong. Unfortunately, most Taiwanese (or the rest of the modern world, for that matter) simply can’t grasp these simple concepts and ruin everyday life for the rest of us. So it goes…
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