Public cell phone use etiquette.....
I have to write about this primarily because I, myself today was caught off guard by a phone call and forgot the proper etiquette. And because there was a very loud student outside of my classroom having a loud conversation for the whole hall to hear. So here we go....
1. I personally do not believe that there is a reason for you to be on the phone, having a private (or not private) conversation in front of someone else. So if you take the phone call, step away as much as you can. Go outside, to another room, to a hallway, or just a few feet away from the people you are with. This way the conversation can go on with out distraction and you keep your private business private. Wisegeek.com says that you should observe the 10-foot proximity rule, meaning you should be at least 10 feet away from the next person when you are having a conversation.
2. If you absolutely have to take a phone call in a pubic place, please use your inside voice. And don't tell your life story. Why should I know all of your personal business and why should the person(s) you are with have to wait several minutes for you to get off the phone? Hit the high points and keep it moving.
3. If it's quiet: Vibrate. If it's not quite and you are around other people and your ringtone would make a grown man blush: Vibrate. Even if your ringtone is not bad, if you are in a public setting you should put it on vibrate. Let's just be honest. How many people still use the stock ringtones that came with the phone? Ringtones are representative of their owners personality. And sometimes that's just entirely too much information. Imagine sitting in a meeting with your boss and you hear Beyonce singing "The way you blowin up my phone won't make me move no fast-ah". Not a bad ringtone, but now everyone in the meeting has a few questions (behind your back) about your personal life.
4. And most of all, don't be rude. Don't answer the phone when you are in the middle of a date, conversation with another person, in the movies, in the classroom, etc. That's just tacky. Ultimately, if we are all polite-minded and think of how what we are doing impacts others we will be able to easily use our phones without making people want to hit us with a brick.
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