[IP] Re: Re: cellphones on planes

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Christopher F. Herot" <cherot@herot.com>
Date: March 25, 2007 3:21:32 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: RE: [IP] Re: Re: cellphones on planes



Andrew Monk published a paper on this phenomenon.

Personally, I am much more concerned about being run over by a  
distracted driver while I am on my way to the airport than I am about  
not being able to eavesdrop on the conversation of my seatmate.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01449290310001638496

ABSTRACT

Sixty four members of the public were exposed to the same staged  
conversation either while waiting in a bus station or travelling on a  
train. Half of the conversations were by mobile phone, so that only  
one end of the conversation was heard, and half were co present face- 
to-face conversations. The volume of the conversations was controlled  
at one of two levels: the actors' usual speech level and  
exaggeratedly loud. Following exposure to the conversation  
participants were approached and asked to give verbal ratings on six  
scales. Analysis of variance showed that mobile phone conversations  
were significantly more noticeable and annoying than face-to-face  
conversations at the same volume when the content of the conversation  
is controlled. Indeed this effect of medium was as large as the  
effect of loudness. Various explanations of this effect are explored,  
with their practical implications.



-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave@farber.net]
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2007 2:59 PM
To: ip@v2.listbox.com
Subject: [IP] Re: Re: cellphones on planes



Begin forwarded message:

From: George Dyson <gdyson@gmail.com>
Date: March 25, 2007 1:37:21 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Re: [IP] Re: cellphones on planes

No one would seek to ban *conversations* on planes, trains, or in
restaurants. What makes other people's cell phone conversations so
objectionable is that you only hear *one* side of the conversation.
Human beings are highly adapted--from caves to cocktail parties--to
automatically filter out conversations that we are not part of. But
when you hear only one side of a conversation, it immediately
distracts your attention; you are constantly forced to keep parsing
the words and figure out "Is that person talking to me?" That's what
makes them so irritating. If not banned altogether, cellphones should
only be allowed in speaker phone mode. Of course, this would also
remind users that their conversations are not as private as it seems
when you are holding the phone up to your own ear alone.

G


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