Stockholm bans cellphones on public transit

[wyliepoon]

Times Online

Link to article

Mobile phones to be silenced by new law
By Marcus Oscarsson and Anthony Browne
STOCKHOLM is to curtail the use of mobile phones on public transport. The Swedish capital’s socialist council, siding with those who insist that the phones are a social nuisance and a health risk, has created designated areas in buses, trains and trams where they may be used.

From August commuters caught using their phones outside the areas risk a fine.

The ban, the first in Europe, has come as a shock in Sweden, home of the mobile manufacturer Ericsson. Many Swedes have more than one handset and do not bother installing landlines in their homes.

The ruling Social Democrat Party in Stockholm and the Green Party said that some passengers were hypersensitive to electromagnetic fields. Others were annoyed by people shouting into phones.

Supporters of the ban hope that it will be extended nationwide but others believe it is an infringement of their liberties.

“I cannot turn off my mobile phone when going on the metro for 20 minutes,†Pia Thurfjell said. “I need to answer if my kids call from school.â€

Fredrik Olandersson, another traveller, said: “What shall I do if all the mobile phone permit seats are taken?†Maria Wallhager, for the opposition Liberals, said: “It is immoral to introduce a ban that lacks popular support and pathetic to ban mobile phones in trains composed almost entirely of electric cables.â€

 

[SD2]

I've never understood why people get so irritated at someone talking on a cell phone in public. You routinely have people talking to each other in person on buses, streetcars, etc. The only difference is that the other person isn't there when you're using a cellphone.

 

[gboykovekin]

^One-sided conversations are statistically proven to be more distracting (read annoying) than normal ones.

 

[samsonyuen]

Good on them! I personally hate cellphone usage in buses, and am glad that they don't work in the subway (both in Toronto and London)!

 

[doady]

people on cell phones talk very loud as well, because they have to talk over the noise of the bus.

 

[SD2]

^One-sided conversations are statistically proven to be more distracting (read annoying) than normal ones.

Why?

If you're sitting on a bus facing the front and a person is talking on a cell phone as opposed to a person across from them, you wouldn't really notice unless you turned around.

people on cell phones talk very loud as well, because they have to talk over the noise of the bus.

Sure, this is sometimes the case. But you'll find the same thing if people are sitting across from you and you have to raise your voice.

Why don't we just ban all communication, period?

 

[doady]

Sure, this is sometimes the case. But you'll find the same thing if people are sitting across from you and you have to raise your voice.

Why don't we just ban all communication, period?

I don't know. Personally, I am not that bothered with it, it is just a little annoying that people lack courtesy when in a public place. It is the same with people who listen to walkman really loud and the whole bus can hear it the music. I don't suggest that walkmans should be banned too but it is still very rude and annoying.

 

[gboykovekin]

Here's a good explanation as to why one-sided cell-phone conversations can be more distracting than regular two-sided conversations:

Michael Norris wrote:
Guesses:
(1 sychoacoustic) if there is only one voice alternating with silence you have to keep readapting and reorienting to the voice,
- as with a noise alternating with silence it sounds louder
and you are more aware of its position relative to yourself.

(2:learned) with a 2-sided conversation we are used to the pattern of intonation and expect an alternation of voices, so hearing one side is unusual, therefore grabs more attention

(3:social) speech nearby after silence often signals that
someone is trying to open a conversation with you, so you have to keep actively ignoring the social cue.

 

[boiler2000]

One person's experience: I like to read on public transit. I have absolutely no problem ignoring people chatting around me, and other normal noises. Cellphone conversations are a whole other story. You have no way of knowing when the person will speak up again (because it's not in response to speech that stopped just before) and every single time it happens, it comes as a surprise. I always have to stop reading when someone is on a cellphone near me.

Even in Japan, the mecca of the cellphone, it is considered extremely rude to use them on the subway (except for sending email/sms, of course) and there are signs asking people not to do it.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Personally I don't have a problem with someone using the cell for short conversations in most public places (libraries, theatres, etc. excluded). What drives me up the wall are long, drawn out yappings about nothing that are conducted at a higher than necessary volume for the explicit purpose of affirming one's status in their circle of friends.

And of course, if you give these individuals a glare, they will reply with that smug look on their faces sayinig "you've got a problem with that?" So much for civility.

AoD

 

[billy corgan19982]

you've got a problem with that?

Say yes and give that person a good bitch slapping.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

bc:

I'd more tempted to just snatch their cell and throw it out the window, then make a mad dash out of the bus.

AoD

 

[interchange42]

I have been on both ICE trains in Germany and the Acela on the US Northeast Corridor where specific cars have been reserved as "quiet cars"; in other words, no cell phones, no loud conversations.

Man those were nice.

42

 

[andreapalladio]

What drives me up the wall are long, drawn out yappings about nothing that are conducted at a higher than necessary volume for the explicit purpose of affirming one's status in their circle of friends.

That describes 99.99% of all cell phone conversations.

Those Swedes. So smart and civilized. I wish we could follow their example.

 

[building babel]

Not to sound vile and politically incorrect, but the w-o-r-s-t cell phone experience I ever had was being trapped on a very crowded streetcar next to a person speaking very loudly and for a very long time - who had Down Syndrome.