“Is talking to a phone the same as talking on it?,” Nick Wingfield asks for The New York Times.
“The sound of someone gabbing on a cellphone is part of the soundtrack of daily life, and most of us have learned when to be quiet — there is no talking in ‘quiet cars’ on trains, for example,” Wingfield reports. “But the etiquette of talking to a phone — more precisely, to a ‘virtual assistant’ like Apple’s Siri, in the new iPhone 4S — has not yet evolved. And eavesdroppers are becoming annoyed.”
Another irritant in listening to people talk to their phones is the awareness that most everything you can do with voice commands can also be done silently. Billy Brooks, 43, was standing in line at the service department of a car dealership in Los Angeles recently, when a woman broke the silence of the room by dictating a text message into her iPhone. ‘You’re unnecessarily annoying others at that point by not just typing out your message,’ said Mr. Brooks, a visual effects artist in the film industry, adding that the woman’s behavior was ‘just ridiculous and kind of sad.'”
MacDailyNews Take: They’re just pissed they don’t have Siri. Yet. 😉 It’s like this with all new tech as begins to hit the general public. It was like this with automobiles, the first cellphones, and with PDAs.
“People who study the behavior of cellphone users believe the awkwardness of hearing people in hotels, airports and cafes treating their phones like administrative assistants will simply fade over time,” Wingfield reports. “‘We’ll see an evolution of that initial irritation with it, to a New Yorker cartoon making fun of it, and then after a while it will largely be accepted by most people,’ said Mr. Katz from Rutgers. But, he predicted, ‘there will be a small minority of traditionalists who yearn for the good old days when people just texted in public.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you use Siri in public places, what are some reactions you’ve noticed?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Whit D.” for the heads up.]
It used to be like that with Bluetooth, everyone thought you were crazy talking to your self; now no one pays attention. Still some people think people who talk on their Bluetooth in public are assholes.
If you need to talk you can not just disappear so no one would hear you and get annoyed.
However, with Siri it is more complicated since you can do yourself all of the things she does silently. Though it will obviously take more time.
Eiquette should allow to use Siri on streets or big spaces where others could go away from you (or you from them). But not in closed spaces or in the line use of Siri for things like text messaging is already questionable — despite bringing Siri to iPhone was Jobs’ decision, it is doubtful that he would use it publicly too much in closed spaces or lines.
That’s silly. So should we ban people from having conversations with other people when standing in line or in a room?
You probably missed parts of my post. Conversations are inevitable, but talks to Siri are. This is the difference.
Obviously, if you are scheduling a meeting or a not via Siri, it is short. And if you are not doing this all the time in this closed space or a line, then it is could be allowed.
But it you dictate letters and texts, this might be already excessive.
Siri works when you raise the iPhone to your ear…..
so yes you can “hide” Siri from the public. Just your voice is heard. Or if you have a Bluetooth headset it’s the same thing.
Use Siri at your ear and I bet nobody will even notice.
Yes! I don’t know why no one seems to realize this. When you raise your iPhone to your ear the conversation with Siri becomes much more akin to any other conversation you’d have on the phone (at least to onlookers).
All I see in the TV adds or with people using it in real life is people holding the phone in front of them and yelling at it lol.
I often put the phone to my ear when using Siri, and talk in a somewhat quiet or at least close to normal tone of voice.
+100500
Unless people in the close space or in a line hear what you a saying and could guess it is not a talk to an actual person (“Send message …”, “Take a note …”, et cetera).
I really think the Commercials do a disservice to Siri by only showing that Siri is used while staring at the screen. (nobody ever remembers the guy using the Mic..)
Either that or Siri has mesmerized everyone with that Purple Mic glowing… The power of the Purple Mic compels me to stare at it!
(Now excuse me while I go stare at Siri some more)
‘Still some people think people who talk on their Bluetooth in public are assholes.’
They are!
Some people used to get annoyed when others texted on their phone. New technology takes time to become comfortable with for some.
People that have seen me use it are curious how it works and the different things it can do for you.
Think Star Trek: “Siri, Tea, Earl Grey, Hot.”. “Siri, fire phasers!”
the only person who against Siri is adroid exec or adroid users. google/android is jealous of everything that apple has. its abviously adroid cant compete with siri. all they doing rigjt now is publishing negative comment on apple’s products.
STFU!
“And eavesdroppers are becoming annoyed.”
And there’s the key part of the article.
Annoyed cause people are talking to a phone and not a person, and yes jealousy 😉
I’ve used Siri in public once, most times it’s at work to show Siri off or at home or with family.
The two people that were around, one was impressed the other tried not to watch lol.
I doubt I’d bother using Siri to dictate a text message, I have Dragon, and never used it. I prefer to use the keyboard, mainly because it gives me time to think about what I’m writing, and trying to dictate something, especially if there are people about, just feels wrong for me.
Agreed. I don’t think id ever dictate any message in public with Siri.
Reminders I doubt either..
But use Siri to look up something like numbers address etc, not a problem.
Mobile phones in the ladies’ room. You can already learn more than you ever wanted to know from what passes for conversation on them, never mind Siri.
Hear, hear!
See as a Guy, I don’t get the cell phones in the bathroom thing..
So I assume that all those studies that find bacteria/E Coli all over the phones are mainly women’s phones?
I could just see a guy on his phone at a stall… I bet most of the other guys in the bathroom would want to bump his elbow to make him drop it in his own piss. 😉
If I’m sitting in Starbucks having a coffee, I find it incredibly annoying if I can hear every word from someone ten feet away — whether they are conversing with someone at their table, or on their phone, or talking to Siri. I DON’T WANT TO LISTEN TO YOUR CONVERSATION. It’s nothing to do with the tech, for me. It’s a matter of being crassly oblivious to others and dominating the soundscape — of ‘aving no “couth”.
+1
My favourite restaurant has a ‘no cell phones’ policy for just that reason…
I am more concerned about the loud voices used. Most people think they have to yell into their phones because the other party seems quiet. Unfortunately, when one person gets loud, the other compensates by getting quieter. If only they knew about how the AGC (Automatic Gain Control) works and that yelling is attenuated and whispering is amplified. If you don’t hear the other person very well, locate the phone on your ear better and use the volume control.
You can whisper to Siri you know.
Thanks for bringing up the point about AGC. Why must people still behave as if they were holding a candlestick phone in a lightning storm?
It’s not using it that is annoying to me, it’s the volume. If somebody feels stupid talking to their phone, then don’t do it. But it doesn’t bother me to do it or if you do it as long as you don’t yell.
Situational awareness and common sense.
I’M BOARDING RIGHT NOW AT GATE 43 LANDING AT O’HARE AT 6:30PM. YEAH. YEAH. HANG ON A SECOND. THE GATE LADY NEEDS MY BOARDING PASS. YEAH. YOU DAWG! I KINEW YOU WENT HOME WITH HER LAST NIGHT! HAAAA! HANG ON A SEC, WILL YOU? I’M STANDING IN A LONG LINE WAITING TO GET ON THE PLANE. YEAH. SO I’LL SEND THE CONTRACTS OVER TOMORROW. HANG ON. EVERYBODY LOOKS LIKE THEY WANT TO HURT ME.
1
I don’t talk to Siri in public, but that’s mostly because I’d be embarrassed to let folks hear what I’m dictating to her… Probably my own insecurities here more than social issues!
Traditionalists yearning for ‘the good old days’ of texting? Seriously? Anyone who imagines texting somehow started in the ‘old days’ isn’t old enough to know what ‘old days’ are, nor can they lay claim to being traditionalists beyond their Saturday morning routine watching cartoons.
I’m filing this with the same assholes that think Bluetooth is some kind of status bauble as opposed to an efficient, convenient and useful tool. Sure, are you at the bar with your Blurtooth? Clear message that you aren’t their to mingle or interact. But if you have a hair up your ass because from 8:00 to 17:00 Mon to Fri an army of people with jobs that require them to be in two places at once are engaging in a conversation on their phones that leaves their hands free while on their way to another site or office, sit down and STFU. Nobody gives a shit what you think anymore.
I’d be annoyed. I can tell my iphone a text message, but I know others would be annoyed, so I don’t. It has nothing to do with jealousy.
“there is no talking in ‘quiet cars’ on trains”
No such thing in Philly. Heard some chick last week boasting in a very loud voice to someone on the other end about how many times her boyfriend made her come the night before.
Yeah, ghetto trash reigns supreme here.
You SO should have used an equally loud voice to congratulate her — or maybe have stood up, and declared in a VERY loud voice, “Hey! Listen up everybody. Cutie over here came TEN times last night! She seems to want to share that with everyone, so I thought I’d just help”.
I dictated a text message while in a mall the other day. I was in a hallway, not in a store.
Two Android phone owners saw me, and were impressed by the ease and speed of the process. I showed them a little bit of Siri in action, and they were envious.
These were two middle-aged average guys, not geeky fandroids. I’m reasonably confident they will be taking a closer look at iPhones the next time they go cell phone shopping.
the one time I used Siri in public, I mentioned above.
It was to get a phone number to a newly opened store that wasn’t even listed in the phone books yet.
the guy that was trying to not pay attention… Had whipped out his android to look it up the same time I did (I assume anyway), he heard the Siri tone and slowly put his phone away. Had to be an awkward moment lol.
and yes Siri found the number, and I called them to check on a price.
I have used Siri a ton looking up address/numbers, works flawless.
“what is the phone number for ___Store/name__ in ___City/state etc___”
That works perfect for me. So much easier than any App or web search.
I had 2 Phone book apps on my iPhone… Had being the key word.
I’m shocked that most people doesn’t know about Siri. It’s a good start in voice recognition software but it will improve in the future.
I’m reminded of stories about early telephones; how new users would hold them at a distance and shout at them. No one initially thought to hold them to their ears and speak normally.
People will adapt over time, so will Siri.
I haven’t gotten any reaction. Yet. I’ve used Siri in NYC but it was too noisy for her to hear me. It’s a common problem I found that noise pollution makes it nearly impossible to give Siri commands. Siri thinks you’re still talking cause of all the noise.
If you hold Siri to your ear to give commands she works much better because the noise cancellation kicks in. You can just hit the purple mic after your done talking to make her stop listening.