Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The ultimate in mobile 'phone stupidity.

This is topic The ultimate in mobile 'phone stupidity. in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 07-09-2008, 08:04 AM:

The canteen at work is now closed for the summer, so I went out to the shop across the road at lunch time to get something to eat. They now have a single queue feeding all of the tills, which was quite long. There were two young, giggling women in the queue, probably about seven metres apart. They were talking to each other on a pair of 'phones, discucssing last weekend's nightclubbing activities, and from time to time waving at each other with a silly grin on their faces. The subjects included:

Who got the most drunk.

Who vomited first.

Who got thrown out by the bouncers.

Who got the best pictures of it.

Welcome to Croydon.

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 07-09-2008, 08:29 AM:

I live & work in San Francisco. Since street parking is almost non existant near the theater I work at, I usually take a bus to & from work.

It's amazing the things I often overhear from some of these loudmouth louts on their cell phones.

I'm not evesdropping- - I'm a captive audience to someone talking loud enough to be heard over the street and engine noise of the bus.

For example, the other day on my way home I was stuck next to a woman whom, prior to this bus-ride, I knew nothing about other than that she lives just down the hill from me on the same block.
(Well, actually, half the population of San Francisco lives on a hill, I guess! [Big Grin]

)

After my short bus ride I knew:
> That she had managed to get herself a 3 day weekend and was going to spend a couple of days in Las Vegas with her husband.

> I knew the name of the office where she worked and lie she told her boss so that she could get the extra day off.

>I knew exactly what she thought of her 'jerk-face' boss.

>I knew that her 16year old daughter would be home alone for the weekend while they were away.

>I knew that at that moment she was carrying a large amount of cash because she mentioned that she was returing home from her bank where she'd gone to get some "Vegas money".

Now, I'm a nice guy; but can you imagine how someone with a criminal background could have taken advantage of any or all of these bits of information?

They could have jumped her when she got off the bus and taken her money.

They could have robbed her house and/or taken advantage of her daughter while she & her husband were out of town. (Remember- she was on her way home so someone could have easily followed her and found out where she lived)

They could have possibly 'blackmailed' her by threatening to reveal to her boss how she lied to get an unauthorized day off, and or to tell her boss exactly what a jerk and how stupid she thought he/she was.

The ironic thing, is that she's probably one of these people would whine to high-heaven about 'The Government' evesdropping on their phone calls, when in less than 10min she had volountary revealed more info about herself to me and a busload of strangers than 'the government' probably knows, or cares about.

Go figure..... [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-09-2008, 08:58 AM:

Although it doesn't involve mobile phones, I have a story to rival Stephen's encounter. About 4-5 years ago I was coming back from a London meeting on a late evening train. It passed Doncaster just after pub kicking out time. As the train came to a stop, several women, in their late teens or early 20s at a guess, more or less had to physically lift their horrendously drunk friend from the platform into the carriage. As soon as the door slammed shut they heaved a sigh of relief and disappeared as quickly as they could. As the train started moving, she staggered into the carriage, looking very much the worse for wear. Clinging onto a seat back for dear life, she turned and faced the assembled passengers (about 10, all business travelers, hunched over papers and/or laptops) and exclaimed, at the top of her voice: 'I've shagged nine men in my life, I 'ave... not eight men ... not ten ... NINE MEN! That's 'ow many I've shagged!' At that point she collapsed into a seat and was fast asleep within seconds. As I and a couple of other people got out at the next station, one remarked that she may end up having to make it ten if she wanted to get home that night...

I'd always wondered why in York, 'Donnie lass' is a slang term to describe a female who is partial to a beverage or two and isn't particularly fussy about her choice of companions. I know now!

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-09-2008, 09:39 AM:

Last time we were in Disney World, when riding one of the "trams" at the Magic Kingdom I happened to sit next to a girl who was yakking on a cell phone. Between the phone conversation and the group's general conversation during the ride, by the end of the three-minute tram ride, I knew:

- The girl's hometown
- How long they were staying
- Their family's hotel and room number
- Their plans for this evening - and what time she thought they'd be finished
- What time they were going to leave the room the next morning
- What parks they still planned to visit
- The girl's first name and the names of her two brothers
- The fact that their dad was not with them on the trip

People are stupid with phones.

Posted by Alan Plester (Member # 852) on 07-09-2008, 12:55 PM:

I work in a bar, and, on friday nights a young woman /girl comes in regular as clockwork and places her handbag on the bar, orders her usual drink, then proceeds to remove three phones from her bag and lay them on the bar and texts all the time, such rubbish as what she had for lunch,and who is dumping who today the list goes on and on, i dread to think what her bills are for such mind numbing rubbish, this usually goes on for at least three hours, using one phone after another????.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-09-2008, 02:18 PM:

I recently watched a documentary on HBO that inadvertently showed perhaps the most stupidly insane use of a cellular phone I've ever seen. The show was about an older couple who had been deaf all their lives and were going to get surgery so they could hear. The documentary was produced by the deaf couple's grown daughter.

Anyway, at one point in the documentary the deaf father is shown driving his car. The guy is driving is car while text messaging with his mobile phone at the same time. You'll love his text messaging technique:

He used his legs to steer the vehicle (by wedging them against the 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock positions of the wheel). That way he could use both hands to thumb in the key strokes on his little phone.

To sum it up, deaf guy can't hear the outside world, isn't watching the road, he's driving with his legs and thumbing text messages using the limbs that should be locked on the steering wheel. Yeah. OK.

I'm sorry, but that scene got me a little pissed off. I don't give a damn if I'm crossing some "P.C." line with this either.

That fellow's hearing challenged condition gives him no right at all to drive recklessly. What the hell is his explanation going to be if he hurts or kills another motorist in an accident? I doubt any comments like, "you have to give me a pass since I'm deaf," are going to go over well at all.

Posted by Robert Crabtree (Member # 4795) on 07-09-2008, 03:44 PM:

What a dipshit- it's a miracle he lived long enough to get a cochlear implant!

If I'm not mistaken, deaf drivers are supposed to have their cars outfitted with some sort of gadget- a device that will alert them to the presence of any sort of first responder. Can't imagine he'd notice that going off while texting.

Posted by Bob Koch (Member # 1062) on 07-09-2008, 08:31 PM:

Boys; I`m 86 yrs old,and the episodes you`re quoting make me glad I`m as old as I am, and the big boy upstairs makes your exit more palatable by subjecting you to stories about these vermin on their cell phones and the conversations you have documented so well.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 07-10-2008, 11:07 AM:

To see six girls sitting around a round-top lunch table, all of them talking to somebody else on their cell phones, is a regular sight where I work! It happens almost every day!

There are plenty of times when I get calls from people when I'm in the middle of something but why would you bother to sit down to lunch with somebody if you are going to ignore them and talk to somebody else on the phone?

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 07-10-2008, 01:00 PM:

Randy: maybe they're talking with each other by phone...airheads. Louis

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 07-11-2008, 12:01 AM:

They are probably so busy yakking that they don't even realize they are sitting five feet away from each other! [Big Grin]

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-11-2008, 04:34 AM:

Reminds me of the scene in Clueless in which Alicia Silverstone is talking to her friend just a few feet away on her mobile. It was all the more funnier, because (i) being in the mid '90s, the mobiles in question resembled army field telephones from the Korean War, and (ii) I had stupidly run the film in the wrong ratio. The previous film was Academy and there was such a tight turnaround that I'd forgotten to change the lenses and plates to 1.85. After the lights went down and the film started, I realised that there was nothing I could do until after the first reel change (thank goodness that place didn't use platters!). When I went down for a sound check, there was Silverstone talking into her mobile while at times glancing up at the boom mike hovering just above her head...

Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 07-11-2008, 08:44 AM:

"All the world's a stage...." Public cell phone usage is probably ripe for psychological evaluation in a self-help book.

As has been noted above there seems to be a number of categories of who and why people do this. Some are just stupid, some are ignorant of the potential dangers and impacts, but some seem to do this simply to be noticed, as in saying, "Look at me. I'm talking loudly and you must pay attention to me." They are acting out their fantasy of being on the stage. (And most of the time subjecting us to some pretty bad acting!)

Me, when I use a cell phone I want my own phone booth so I find an alcove or private place to talk. In ten years I may have used the phone while driving maybe ten times. (I pull over, park and then talk.)

Some studies have shown that talking on a cell phone while driving (hands on OR off) is similarly dangerous to driving while having a blood alcohol level of .1% (DWI in every state.) Shouldn't they have similar penalties since they are equally dangerous?

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-11-2008, 09:21 AM:

quote: Jim Bedford
Me, when I use a cell phone I want my own phone booth so I find an alcove or private place to talk.

In one hotel I stayed at a couple of years ago there was a row of phone booths in the lobby, of which only about half actually had payphones in them. The rest just had a little table and a power point, the idea being to provide somewhere quiet and private to make a mobile call. They were a good idea, I thought.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 07-11-2008, 11:12 PM:

quote: Jim Bedford
"All the world's a stage...." Public cell phone usage is probably ripe for psychological evaluation in a self-help book.

Just like the old days when high school kids would have parties and everybody would walk around holding their drinks in such a way as to subtly show everybody, "Hey! Look! I've got a BEER!"

As Frank Zappa once said, "Life is like high school, only with money." [Wink]

Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 07-12-2008, 12:39 PM:

Another reason many people, especially new cellphone users, talk so loudly is that they are used to the feedback of their own voices when speaking on landlines. Since there is no such awareness of one's own voice on a celllphone, the user unconsciously speaks more loudly to make sure he/she is being heard. New users can often be heard shouting, and in my office
I sometimes cannot understand incoming calls because the volume is so loud the voice is is distorted and unintelligible. I have to ask the caller to speak mre softly or to hold the phone away from the face to be understood.

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 07-12-2008, 03:07 PM:

This is a timely topic.

Thursday morning, going to work, I was almost sideswiped on the Smoky Park Highway bridge by a girl that was yapping away on the cell phone. I swerved to the right and hit my horn, but she didnt notice shit. She came on across 2 more lanes before she stopped this mad lane change. Granted, my car is 24 years old, and not particularly good to look at, but I sure dont want this bitch to alter its body style! She was just laughing her head off as I came by her in my car. What a dolt.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-12-2008, 06:12 PM:

(Leans evilly into microphone...)

"Kill her"

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-12-2008, 10:02 PM:

quote:
the feedback of their own voices when speaking on landlines. Since there is no such awareness of one's own voice on a celllphone,

Question: Why is it not possible to provide that feedback on cell phones? Is that technology not developed yet or what?

Posted by Robert Minichino (Member # 3495) on 07-12-2008, 10:41 PM:

That feedback is called "sidetone," and I have no idea why it's not implemented in all mobile phones. Background noise is generally higher on mobiles than it is on a landline (think of the places where people use it; car, crowded stores, etc.), but a bit of noise reduction added in should make it work perfectly. In my cynical view, it's not a marketable feature so the phone product managers won't give the engineers the go ahead to add it into the product.

EDIT: From what I understand, sidetone was actually invented and added to phones after telephone researchers noticed people unconsciously yelling at the other party. Those who don't learn from history, blah blah blah....

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 07-12-2008, 11:52 PM:

If you ever talk on your cell to somebody next to you, you'll realize there's actually a slight delay before what you say comes out on the other side.

In the early days of digital mobile phones, we in the industry saw problems where people would complain of echoing that was the result of them hearing themselves back because one of the parties had their earpiece cranked and the microphone would pick it up.

I suspect that's the reason "sidetone" doesn't exist in mobile phones today. They couldn't just reflect back the processed conversation...there would have to be a whole secondary processing within the handset itself.

Posted by Andy Frodsham (Member # 4061) on 07-14-2008, 02:12 PM:

I still wonder how we survived before cell phones were let loose on the public?

It amazes me that I see people in supermarkets (Cell phone to ear) asking someone on the other end whether they want a red or blue something-or-other. You later see the same people, this time in another aisle, (still glued to the phone) asking if the other party wants sliced or unsliced! Why can't they just make a shopping list before they set-off?