Can you hear me now? Heck, yeah! Loud and clear

Another cell phone gripe. Kevin Drum asks why do people talk so loudly on their cell phones in public places? I want to second him in asking, yeah why? It is already annoying that I have to hear only one side of some mundane conversation. It is a mighty relief that those walkie-talkie-like Nextel phones didn’t catch on because then we would be subjected to twice as much noise. Cell phone reception definitely has improved. If you need any proof, just plug in your hands free set and notice how relatively far your mouthpiece is now and yet the person on the other end can hear you perfectly clear.

I guess it is a remnant from the era of lousy telephone reception especially if you are making a long-distance call. You would have to scream your head off and repeat yourself several times to make yourself heard. Unfortunately my dad is from that era because his volume seems to climb a few notches whenever he calls me but lately he has been doing it less often after being told explicitly that I can hear him fine even if he whispers. My grandparents on the other hand switch to English when they talk to me. I dunno if they think that Marathi wouldn’t get through because I am in America.

Anyway, I guess until the next generation born and brought up on cell phone culture is the dominant one, we have to live with loud voices around us.

Tweet This“Can you hear me now? Heck, yeah! Loud and clear” [Short URL: http://www.ipatrix.com/?p=1212] was published Friday, March 24th, 2006 at 8:44 pm by Patrix, filed under Observations, Society Culture, and tagged as , , . Both comments and linkbacks are closed.

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  • http://tamilpunkster.blogspot.com megha

    I have a particular uncle, who hollers into the phone everytime he speaks over the cellphone .When I asked him why, his illustrious reasoning was that as the phone gets smaller, the calls get less clear.
    I know, dont ask me why but I kinda think our folks are not used to a miniscule phone! Or maybe my uncle is just a little conked in the head…*ahem*

  • http://www.retributions.blogspot.com confused

    God!

    My dad, whenever he calls me, he is litterally shouting in the phone, the only I can quiten him down is by telling him, Dad a little more louder and I would be able to hear you without the phone!

    Guess it is excitement too..

  • http://ipatrix.com Patrix

    Megha, I guess every family has one.

    Confused, I have used that line with my dad too. Excitement is a better excuse but after more than five years even that ceases to be an excuse.

  • AM

    Just happened to come across your post about your tiff with the immigration officer at the port of entry.

    Consider yourself lucky bro. I went back to india and then went to get my visa stamped. What is usually a one day wait and just a formality turned out to be a 45 day nightmare since the visa officer decided to subject me to “additional clearance” just for the heck of it..and for no fault of mine! Thanks to a wonderful employer who allowed me to work from there…I hung in there. This new kind of “additional processing” is something they are doing more and more at the US consulates in chennai and mumbai and i will post about it on my blog just to make people aware and ready and prepared for it..coz I certainly wasnt ready. One of the perils of trying to live abroad I guess.

    Just thought I would help you get over ( I am sure you already have) your experience with the stupid Immigration officer since it was a cakewalk :). I know about two cases of them just returning people and asking them to go back to the Consulate stating “security issues”. Its just crazy and absolutely illogical.

    On a different note…I hope more and more people keep buying and screaming over those cell phones so that my paychecks keep coming :).

    Take care.

  • http://ipatrix.com Patrix

    AM, I see that my case wasn’t too bad after all but I found it especially irritating after my visa process had no problems at all and I got my visa renewal by an officer who even admitted knowing a few people over at my uni. They don’t understand that all this visa jhanjhat is going to hurt them the most…Indians are the last people to create any hassles in their country.

    BTW wherez your blog located at?

  • http://katrix.blogspot.com Katrix

    lol. technology apart, in the US of A at least, it has more to do with the consistent need to be heard….
    Bill Maher has it bang on target — the NSA spying is the best thing that happened to Americans — now, they can be sure that at least someone is listening!

  • http://makingpplsmile.blogspot.com shub

    :) my dad’s voice goes up if he receives an STD or ISD call on the landline! …its plain excitement I guess…
    over the years he’s quietened considerably :)
    yeah i HATE it when ppl yell their lungs out over a mobile on public transport especially…my usual reaction is to give the person a dirty look and stare…hasn’t worked so far though :(
    ps: love the preview that appears below as I type out a comment :)

  • http://ipatrix.com Patrix

    Katrix, that was an excellent line by Bill Maher…what’s with the name? you my twin? :)

    Shub, public mobile talkers are as obnoxious as they can get but I don’t understand why would they want us to overhear their pvt.convos.


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