Why cell phone conversations are annoying (1 Viewer)

I know there was a thread about cell phone conversations and how annoying they are...At one point, someone couldn't understand what's the difference between someone talking to someone (who was physically there) at normal volume and someone who was talking at the same volume to someone on a cell phone. I couldn't exactly answer what the difference was, but I KNEW that the cell phone conversation was definitely more annoying to me.

Anyways, it's obvious when someone is talking loudly...but I just heard some information that makes sense as to why 'normal' volumed cell phone conversations are SO annoying.

They say that our brains expect to hear both sides of a conversation. When we don't hear the other side of the conversation, our brains tend to concentrate more on the conversation and it actually frustrate us.

They said they did research with conversations (with two people in the same room) and found that if one of the people talked softly (to the point that the observer couldn't hear them), they found that the observer would get frustrated.

Mark,

Who are these "they" you keep referring to throughout your post? Vagueness in postings is almost as annoying as not knowing the other side of a cell phone conversation.

J

Justin, it was some scientific research. I heard it on the radio, so I can't link to the story and the DJ (who was reading the story) used the standard "a group of researchers", so I really couldn't tell you who "they" were.

I think people tend to talk louder while using a cellphone anyway.

i know ... that totally kills me. it's like they think if you talk louder, it "increases" the signal strength or something.

that being said, i've caught myself doing it ... but i try not to. :b

Reason #527 why The Ted is so popular!

It's almost like people think the farther the person receiving your call is from you, the louder you have to talk for them to hear you.

Sometimes if the other person is in a noisy environment you have to speak up. I hate cell phone yellers though and I try to be as quiet as I can. On Friday, a yeller woke me up in the middle of my commuter bus naptime to say the same things over & over & over.

Nextel direct connect users are the worst because you get to hear both sides of the conversations plus the annoying "chirp".

OH MY GOD! I swear, that noise hits the back of my neck EVERY time I hear it.

It's bad enough that cell phone conversations are annoying, but to enhance the annoyingness, they have to signal the room when one side of the conversation is over.

It's not Nextel, it's the user. That "chirp" can be turned off and the direct connect feature can be used like a phone.

Ron-P is correct, it's the user. At my previous employer I was given a Nextel phone and the first thing I did was turn off the 2 way speaker and eliminate that chirp.

Why do Nextel users leave the speaker and that chirp turned on? Maybe they don't realize it can be turned off? Maybe they think it's cool to walk around going blah, blah, blah.... chirp..... blah, blah, blah.... Who knows.

I work for said company and you'd be surprised at how people talk when they use direct connect. We just sit here and laugh.
For example,
They say stuff like "over and out" and "roger", CB stuff like that, all while talking to their wives.
The mind set they get is hillarious.

I think the Cell talkers talk louder because there is something in the brain that says........"hmmmmmm the part of the phone that I am talking into is sooo much further away then my landline phone so I must have to talk loud....." At least that's my excuse:b .............

So where are oyu listening from exactly? Do you have the ability to overhear people's conversations?

Also the fact that static and the crappy speaker volume (plus room noise) makes one think that they need to yell in order for the other person to hear them.

Very true. The same thing goes on with the people I work with. I hear 10-4, what's your 20? 10-9 and the like from some, then those same people go to use the phone and revert back to normal verbage.