Remember how annoyed we were when people first began having cell phone conversations in public–baring their secrets, going over grocery lists, breaking up with lovers, fighting with the phone company? Actually, according to a recent New York Times article, One Rude Turn Deserves a Swat, we still are, and we’re fighting back. But perhaps there’s reason to believe that there soon will be fewer offenders out there.
Maybe all those glares and guerilla tactics are paying off, or perhaps most of us have learned to use our inside voices after a solid decade of cell phone use. Eventually, an etiquette had to develop around mobile phone, just as it has about other types of communication. To wit, the Emily Post Institute now offers advice on cell phone manners. But recent research shows another hopeful sign: the ascendence of text over talk. Long the case in Europe and Asia, especially among the under-24 crowd, the trend is now evident in North America as well, says sociologist Barry Wellman, drawing from a proprietary Canadian study that portends a “shift from voice to text.” Likewise, figures released by CTIA, a communications industry group, and reported on November 8 in the New York Times, indicates that in the U.S., texting has increased by more than 80% from last June to this (2008-09).
But have we traded in one problem for another? Look around you. The guy who once annoyed you by jabbering into his cell phone, is now a different kind of nuisance: Head down, walking at a good clip, he’s too busy checking his stocks, searching for a restaurant, or composing a text to notice you. Our parents used to warn us to watch out for other drivers. Little did they know that once day we’d have to worry about other walkers!
