[pct-l] Technology on the Trail

[dsaufley at sprynet.com (dsaufley@sprynet.com)]

It is a strange phenomenon that some people talk so loudly when on a cell phone, or talking to someone who speaks another language -- as though merely talking louder makes it easier for the person on the other end to understand.  My mom always talks louder to me when I'm on my cell phone (but she's not on one).  I've had to tell her that I can hear her fine (when I can hear her at all on that blasted thing -- mountains and canyons wreak havoc on signal reception).  I don't know why she feels the need to raise her volume for me, but there it is.  Maybe she's just used to hollering at me!  

My curiosity was more around whether people are just irritated about the use of a gadget, when they wouldn't be irritated if they overheard a conversation between two people who were present.  I have found myself tweaked at others, say sitting next to me at the airport, who are talking on their cell phone.  Yet, when I rationalize it, if they were having the same conversation, with responses, from someone sitting on the other side of them, it wouldn't bug me as much -- I wouldn't give it a second thought (hey, it's a great eavesdropping opportunity :o)  

I talk to myself (and answer) and have been known to sing out loud (so sorry to anyone who's suffered through it).  People have been pretty tolerant about those activities, I've found.  Or they just cut a wide circle around me.  But I've noted that a similar activity when deployed with a cell phone, seems to drive some people nuts.  I wonder what it is about our human nature that makes the gadget so repulsive to some, and such a godsend to others.

Just wonderin' . . .

-=Donna Saufley=-

-----Original Message-----
From: larry hillberg <walkinglarry@yahoo.com>
Sent: Jan 20, 2005 7:35 AM
To: dsaufley@sprynet.com, pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Technology on the Trail

My complaint wasn't so much about cellphones - I
carried one along the PCT myself - but rather about
rudeness.  We individuals don't have the right to
annoy others merely for our own convenience.  Most
seem to understand this, and like our mother taught
us, we keep the volume down in normal conversation. 
Most cell phone users also understand this, but many
don't.  In particular, those with headsets are loud. 
Perhaps they don't even realize it.  I don't know. 
But it is still rude.

I expect that if I interrupted their cell phone call
with a tap on the shoulder and my own question, they
would think me rude.  They would be right.  I don't
have the right to interfere with them either.

My irritation stems from the loudness, not with the
conversation itself.  Loud conversations are just not
appropriate in certain places, like movies, theater,
libraries, churches, etc.  Luckily, most understand.

Larry

--- dsaufley@sprynet.com wrote:

> Larry, 
> 
> I'm just curious about this as it's something I've
> thought about.  Would you be as irritated with the
> "boring, inane, personal or business conversations"
> if the person they were talking to on the cell phone
> was actually present, and you could still hear their
> conversation?  This time of course, you'd get both
> boring sides.  
> 
> -=Donna Saufley=-
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: larry hillberg <walkinglarry@yahoo.com>
> Sent: Jan 19, 2005 6:10 AM
> To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Technology on the Trail
> 
> 
> On a recent trip, I spent many hours sitting around
> airports for various reasons.  (Has anyone besides
> me
> noticed how airplanes, airports, security, etc. have
> stolen the journey away from us and left us with
> only
> a raging desire to reach our destination?)  Please
> do
> not allow the PCT to be like that for yourself.  You
> will miss the point of it all.
> 
> At these airports and elsewhere nowadays, the phone
> conversations have become far louder due to
> headsets. 
> At first I thought this was due to people being
> ruder
> nowadays, which they are.  But much like your
> teenager
> shouts to you in normal conversation because they
> are
> connected to their walkman, so too do those engaged
> in
> phone conversations wearing their headsets.  Whether
> or not one is interested, we are forced to listen to
> boring, inane, personal or business conversations in
> every public place.  On this last trip, in the men's
> room, I heard one such conversation from behind the
> closed door of a stall.  Is there no peace from it?
> 
> So far, I have not lost my cool in the face of this
> modern form of rudeness.  On the PCT, I would.
> 
> Larry H
> 
> 
> 		
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