How often have you traveled on public transport only to be sat next to or close by to a person who uses the phrase "I am on the bus" or "I am on the train" so loud that everybody in the whole vicinity can hear them, but then proceed to have a full length conversation and give out personal details for all the world to hear!
Do people who conduct very private conversations on mobiles in full display of the public think that no one will listen to the details that they may give out about bank details, telephone numbers and even private information, you never know who is listening and if you are slagging off someone, it may be someone they know too!
I would be true to say the "art of conversation" on a mobile phone is slowly diminishing with the use of text messaging which also in itself is an art as well as grammar and bad spelling, "text speak".
Talking on the mobile phone is the most annoying thing I know, as you are constantly asking the other person to repeat themselves as they are "breaking up" having just gone through a tunnel or the reception is not all that good. Either that or you are going deaf!
Its also a fact that when I am out with friends now, how often we have interruptions of people calling (not for an emergency) but just to chat and the friends will land up having a conversation with the person on the other end whilst we all sit quietly until they have finished. Even if they are my friends, I get a little cross with them and have said so to a couple of my friends, who just did not realize that they were being rude.
Is it not the same when you invite people over for dinner and during dinner your normal land line telephone rings and you answer it to have a full scale conversation. In my minds eye, would it not be more polite to say to the caller "I am just in the middle of a dinner with some friends, can I call you back?" The caller may be a bit put out, and again if it is an emergency then it is different, but etiquette to me is to be with the people who are your guests for dinner.
Getting back to mobile phones and how it has affected the art of conversation. The same goes for talking on the mobile phone. Its a bit of a dismissive item now. As we can see who the caller is and ignore them. Yet we get a mobile phone to be in touch with people.
There is a time and place to conduct personal phone calls whether it be on the mobile or on a land line and I admit, I for one, have been guilty of having to answer the mobile when in a public place, having forgotten to turn it off, which is also another sore point of mine but it does happen. But I make a conscious effort to turn it off when in the doctor's or dentist or hospital or at work.
Most people who are close to me, have my work number and if it is an emergency, and my mobile is switched off, they will go through to either my work or home number to get hold of me. This sifts out the unnecessary calls.
How often have you sat in a doctors/dentist practice where someone is on the mobile phone, despite polite notices for all mobiles to be switched off.
It is down to the receptionist to say something, but they are afraid of reprisal and so the rest of the patients land up taking no notice or glaring at the culprit on the mobile, who is usually killing time when waiting to see the dentist/doctor.
I remember a little while back having come back on the bus because of train problems listening to this woman rattling on about her love life, the girls she did not like in the office, her parents and the phrase "is it" stuck in my mind for a long time. Unfortunately I could not move away from her, the bus was full and I think a number of fellow passengers were quite fed up with her persistence of the use of the words "is it" and her moaning on about her life.
Living in London or any big city, I believe it is necessary to carry a mobile, but in the event of an emergency i.e. major disaster (as 7 July bombing attack proved) all the lines went down as they were needed for the emergency services.
Mobile phones have affected the art of conversation in a lot of ways, but we can get by in our normal day to day lives without making unnecessary calls, even text messages.
To me there is nothing better than speaking on the phone to someone who I have not seen or spoken to in ages and even better still, arranging to meet up and have a good old natter, preferably without the mobile phones being easily available!