Reply With QuoteWait until you see young people listening music on portable Bluetooth speakers.
Hello
I’m back in London for work and I’m frankly amazed at the amount of people who will listen to their devices without headphones.
When has this been socially acceptable?
I’ve encountered this bizarre practice on internal flights in India but I’m taken aback to discover how common place it is in London.
Individually or in groups , infants or older people , male or female , hipsters and suits . Crosses all divides seemingly.
Are we heading back to the days of ghetto blasters on shoulders?
What gives ?
Wait until you see young people listening music on portable Bluetooth speakers.
Already have. Have I missed the point where this became socially acceptable?Originally Posted by Normunds
Mind you some of their headphones are so leaky they might as well be using their device’ speakers anyway.
I’m always amused by the slang term for this - ‘sodcasting’
Every day's a school day.
It seems to be getting more and more common on trains and at airports. I was having a coffee recently at the airport and some bloke next to me was watching a movie. I felt like dunking his phone in my overpriced coffee but drank it and left him to it. I don't want to sound like a moaning old duffer but people seem to care little about others these days. Thanks to social media, I can see us de-evolving. Pretty soon, we'll be grunting and pointing at pictures on our phones like apes.
I always thought it was just chavs on buses
So did I but I’ve been subjected to it on more and more business class flights.
I have found that playing Chas n’ Dave’s Gertcha out loud on my phone can make them become self aware and turn their noise off. I then of course turn Chas n’ Dave off. It has worked both times that I have done it. This isn’t a serious or sensible solution though. I am generally for more reserved.
The practice does seem more and more common. I had the misfortune of being in a chain bar in Milton Keynes. There was a chap watching football out loud while the rest of his family were eating their meal!
Before anyone has a pop about Milton Keynes and chain bar, we were only there because the missus had a race and the bar was joined on to the hotel. There was no nearby alternative!
Last edited by Matt London; 27th August 2019 at 10:35.
I think we are almost at peak not caring about each other.
I don't think we're there just yet but its not far to go for sure. I think this is down to social media to be honest. Its so easy to post something on your timeline / feed or whatever thats its become to norm for people to have the "look at me" mentality. I only recently found out about instagram influencers. Its a real "job"now ffs. Anyway people are so preoccupied with themselves and their own little bubble they generally don't give a damn about whats going on around them unless its worthy of a vid / picture to be post later / that instant or if it directly affects them. Basically we're becoming selfish and needy.
That seems to be happening more and more on the tube as well as people having headphones in and having extremely loud conversations with whoever is on the other end of the line.
That is a particular pet hate of mine. Its completely unnecessary and very annoying when it can be heard over my headphones with whatever i'm trying to listen to.
Parents sticking a cartoon on a screen in front of their toddler kids in a restaurant is the version that gets me the most. Kids growing up with a digital parent instead of a real conversation and the rest of us putting up with ‘Baby Shark’ at full volume.
Eating out when my kids were little used to be a treat...(most of the time). Now they are adults it still is - and no-one gets their phone out.
Excellent!
I can't imagine how anyone can sit and play music etc. in a public place with no regard for other people.
I have a few freebie in-ear earphones - I keep a set in my case for use on trains : not for me, but to offer generously to the offender, in a manner of speech that will connect with the hard-of-thinking.
In a similar vein, in Poole yesterday, I was intrigued by the number of people lighting barbecues on a crowded beach. Who does that? What kind of sociopath do you have to be to f*ck up everyone else's day at the seaside with noxious smoke for no good reason?
This is also happening here in NL.
luckily my commute by train is limited to two/three morning a week and is for either 8 minutes (fast train with 1 stop) or 16 minutes (slow train with 4 stops ).
Here the fast trains have Silent Cars, but as the Dutch all sit like Zombies watching sport or ‘X Factor’ type stuff on their mobiles it’s more and more common to see the ‘rebel’ sitting watching his (always men) choice of garbage at full blast!
My usual technique is to ask if they speak English, and then ask nicely if they could ‘knock it off’, usually works as the rest of the carriage suddenly remember their spinal cords are attached!!
A favourite in London is those engaging in this behaviour while mobile and not looking where they're going.
Then tut as you walk into them or they god forbid have to change course!
Last time I was travelling back home from London on the train there was an individual who rang his partner at least 3 times - on speaker phone.
I was not alone in wanting to smash his phone.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Bloke on speaker phone in the Crowne Plaza bar now, more annoying now my ears have tuned into it.
Told a guy on the train a few months ago to put in his headphones or hang up while he was on facetime call and he asked in shock if I was serious.
He was discussing what to have for dinner and the other mind numbing end of day chat anyone has with their partner.
He didn't have his headphones so hung up and didn't bother to call her back on a regular call but made sure to let his wife know a mean man on the train was making him hang up so when he said bye to her I said bye too! Twat.
Even better is making sure they walk in to you and you have an elbow prominent. They invariably say "sorry mate" but one feels a point has been made, albeit temporarily.
I sat in a restaurant once, the table next to me consisted of four people sitting around eating a fifth person who attended via FaceTime on an iPad! They seriously had it propped up as if he was sat with them, only thing they didn’t do was spoon feed him!
Last edited by justin44; 28th August 2019 at 20:08.
Cannibalism is indeed very anti-social.
People staring at their phones/tablets (even if they're wearing headphones) whilst ambling aimlessly around the London Underground gets right on my t1ts !
And why do certain elements of society deem it necessary to have a phone conversation with the 'other end' on loudspeaker whilst they hold the base of the phone horizontally about an inch in front of their face ?
It’s definitely not just a London thing listening to stuff without head phones.
We’ve just returned from a trip to France and Belgium and experienced it in both - at restaurants. I even commented on doing a Dom Jolly “on the phone” scream to highlight how ignorant it is.
There are just ever more selfish d***s about I’m afraid.
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Since I started this thread . EVERY train journey I’ve taken has some moron with music blaring oyt of their phone. I’m on the Euston to Watford Junction over ground right now and there is a woman two seats up for me with headphones .
Trouble is she’s got them perched around her neck , not actually in her ears : with music blaring out of them at full volume .
I give up. I now have my headphones in just to act as earplugs.
Go ahead, live a little and do it just the once. I bet it will feel so cathartic!
You’ve inspired me to move it up a level from Chas n’ Dave! Just for that one in a hundred times when I get the devil inside me!
Spent bloomin ten minutes now trying to embed the YouTube video. I will have to channel the frustration into my next phone intervention!
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Last edited by Matt London; 3rd September 2019 at 21:24.
HA, recently on the tube with a woman with her earphones plugged into her ears but NOT into her phone, she seemed puzzled until the chap next to her pointed out her error .....................
More and more noticeable in Birmingham - "yoof" riding around on BMX type bikes with large speakers slung across their chests playing the latest "grime/crime" toooooonz
Never thought I'd think I'm getting old - but they look and sound ridiculous in my world.
It’s a viral trend among youf, ‘cuz itz givz u canzer and sh*t innit bruv.. (it’s after chain smoking two packs of siggies, spliffs, downing cheap lager/cider, and eating deep fried sho*te from local chicken house)
Fas est ab hoste doceri
This technique was perfected on The Apprentice where various bellends communicate with each to little effect.And why do certain elements of society deem it necessary to have a phone conversation with the 'other end' on loudspeaker whilst they hold the base of the phone horizontally about an inch in front of their face ?
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I have done it before (minus the massive phone) and t is v cathartic. Also felt like a bit of a prick and self conscious after doing it it has to be said.
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Mrs. MST and I have just got back from a quick trip to Tesco where we came across a proud as punch looking middle-aged chap sauntering up the biscuit aisle with what I imagine [having never listened to it] to be folk rock blaring out from a wireless speaker in his trolley, the world's gone mad!
I detest this practice, why on earth do other people think I want to listen to what they are listening to.
Same applies to car drivers in a queue with their music turned way up loud.
Basically nearly everyone is a t**t with little to no manners / consideration to others / empathy. I'm off to lock myself in the cellar with some red wine, beer and a bucket and wait for the numpties to get run over by buses as they wonder out into the street without looking while they're hunched over their phones.
That’s fair enough. It’s really not something I revel in, otherwise it would just make me one of them!I have done it before (minus the massive phone) and t is v cathartic. Also felt like a bit of a prick and self conscious after doing it it has to be said.
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Don’t be too hard on yourself though!
hahaha did he have a plate in front of him as well .
All this being said the recent tragic case where Lee Pomeroy was stabbed 51 times in front of his 14 year old Son on a train from Guildford to London means that I would always urge caution, no matter how annoying this is.
I am no coward by any stretch of the imagination and as the saying goes there's always someone bigger or harder, but the these days life seems to be cheaper than it once was.
I understand your point but in this case I'm sure I read the loving honorable Father had a reputation for arguing, and the guy he argued with this time wasn't bigger and probably not harder but happened to be a bloody schizophrenic with a knife. The perfect storm really.
I think confrontation is the wrong thing so much as just asking the person to turn it down. Unlike my partner who shouted out to 3 drunken blokes on a campsite we were staying at to turn their music down. I just pretended to be dead.
That's exactly the point though - anyone presents an unknown risk, you don't want to find yourself bringing a knife to a gunfight, if you'll excuse the pun.
Mine's exactly the same, little or no thought for the repercussions of her actions, whatever they might be, for her or those around her.
I don’t think it’s become socially acceptable, but what has happened is that people have become scared to stand up for themselves and say something.
Agreed, chicken or egg?
I was enjoying a quiet drink when my wife had a day off & we went to a middle of nowhere pub for lunch.
Two 60+ ladies arrived, dithered, made a fuss about where to sit, then one went to order drinks.
The other then got her phone out and started watching a video on youtube, we were about 20m away and the volume was intrusive beyond belief.
I sensed I was unlikely to be stabbed by her, but the look on her face when I walked over and asked if she could perhaps turn it down surprised me a lot less than her telling me to **** off.
Sat back down, played a song that has been stuck in my head since attending my niece's birthday party...Baby Shark....it does my head in.
Within a minute, she turned her video off....I Cannot recall what she was watching, but hope the Baby Shark tune rots her brain for months like it has mine.
It has to be the worst tune I have ever heard as a brain worm or whatever they are called!
Perhaps the modern version of 'I know a song that will get on your nerves'
All I'm saying is don't let your mouth write cheques that your body can't cash, I'm not trying to affront anyone's masculinity.
A few months ago I had an interview and arriving early I went to McDonald’s for a coffee and a read of my notes. I sat away in a corner and all was peaceful and quiet. Then a plank arrived with a full breakfast which he munched through whilst conducting a call on speaker phone. I moved table as he got louder and louder or at least it felt that way.
I also remember going to Costa Coffee some years ago and two women were having a conversation from their seats on opposite sides of the store. I asked the barista if they could be sat together as there was plenty of space and it is a coffee place and not a night club. The barista smiled but declined.
I think I need some NC headphones.
The same for some car drivers!!!!
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