The Conversation: Mobile Etiquette Falls Short, Experts Say
Experts say Americans peeved about cell phone use in transit, public bathrooms.
Feb. 25, 2011— -- The buzzing. The beeping. The latest Rihanna hit blasting out of someone's handbag.
The explosion of cell phone use in the last several years has inevitably led to an increase in complaints about bad manners -- texting during dinner, chatting during movies, discussing the day's events in a public bathroom.
"The bottom line is this technology is allowing you to connect with people, people that you do business with, people that you care about. And that side, I think, is fantastic," said etiquette expert Anna Post of the Emily Post Institute and the great-great granddaughter of the manners maven.
"That 92 percent of Americans who wish that people used better etiquette with their mobile devices that to me says that yes we're seeing it," Post said, "but we also care about continuing to shift it to something better."
Intel and Post have partnered to take a look at so-called "mobile etiquette." Their survey found that a whopping 75 percent of Americans reported that mobile manners have gone downhill since 2009.
Our top pet peeves when it comes to cell phones are:
But other, often cringe-worthy mobile missteps also rankled survey participants. Nearly 50 percent of respondents said they'd seen someone using their cell phone in a public restroom compared with 32 percent in a movie theater.
Post and Intel offered a few tips to keep everyone happily communicating.
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