Talking too loudly on a mobile phone in a public place is the worst breach of mobile manners, according to new research from Intel. 67% of respondents said this annoyed them more quickly than any other mobile faux pas.
33% of Brits have suffered from their ‘date’ using a mobile phone at an inappropriate time, with 11% of respondents making similar complaints about using mobiles in the bedroom.
However, the survey also suggested that tolerance of using mobile technology in public is on the rise.
Genevieve Bell, Intel Fellow and Director of Interaction and Experience Research at Intel Labs, said “This survey makes clear how important mobile technologies have become in our daily lives. Smartphones are no longer just devices for making calls, they are implicated in almost everything we do. And whilst it sometimes feels like these devices have been around forever, it is less than a decade since mobile phones went mainstream in the UK. Unsurprisingly, we are still working out the right social rules; from texting your friends while on a date to Tweeting during your own wedding, societies and cultures haven’t quite sorted out how the devices will find a comfortable place in our lives. While inappropriate mobile use is certainly an invasion of privacy, we can’t deny the reliance on these devices, and the positive impact they have on our lives.”
Smoking and swearing were deemed the most inappropriate behaviour for public spaces, followed by using a mobile phone in front of someone.