The Debrett's Guide to Mobile Phone Etiquette

The Telegraph has published a 10-point guide to cell phone manners from Debrett's, the traditional authority on British aristocracy and social manners. The kinds of things you'd expect, like:

8. Step away from the phone at meal times

Don't put your phone on the dining table, or glance at it longingly mid-conversation.

9. Don't carry on mobile phone calls when in the middle of something else

Don't carry on mobile phone calls while transacting other business - in banks, shops, on buses and so on. It is insulting not to give people who are serving you your full attention.

Most of it is intuitive, meaning the people who will read it don't need to be told how to take calls or not in various situations. And as commenters at Metafilter quickly pointed out, the list is only about phone calls, which is inadequate in an age when young people use smart phones for much more, like texting, watching TV, web browsing, music, and social networking. If we were going to construct a comprehensive list of rules for using smartphones, what rules would you suggest? Link

(Image credit: Flickr user TheeErin)


The comments at the Telegraph are hilarious. Here's a great story:

Best one I ever saw on a train. Bloke is on the phone to sife "Sorry dear, got held up at office will be late etc"
Wifey obviously does'nt believe hime
"No, I have'nt been down the pub, I've been working"
"no, I am not out with the floozie from accounts". This goes on for ages, him trying to justify his lateness and obviously she does'nt believe a word. Other passengers totally fed up.
Then the young lady sat next to him leans over, puts her mouth close to phone and says "Oh, just hang up on the bitch darling and come back to bed"
I wonder what happened when he got home, bet you could have sold tickets.
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One of the best things about having a "dumb phone" (it doesn't do texts) is that it weeds out a lot of frivolous communication. ["Hey gurl. watz up?" "Hi. Shall I give you a call so we can actually converse?" "LOL No. Jus wntd to say hey." "Well, bye." "CYA"]
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