Why Are Cellphones so Annoying?

New evidence on how our brains react.

Published on March 19, 2013 by Elizabeth Wagele in The Career Within You

Cartoon by Elizabeth Wagele

I read an interesting article in the NY Times about the reasons people talking loudly on cell phones are so annoying (March 14, 2013). The newspaper came the same day I had been especially irritated in the drug store by the man in front of me in line. He was talking to his friend about playing soccer and several other things the whole time his transaction with the clerk took place, talking extremely loudly so those at the opposite end of the huge store could hear every word.
My interpretation of why this sort of thing is so annoying includes:
• the simple facts of too much noise and the person’s insensitivity
• the unconscious attitude of the guy. He seemed to have no idea how loud he was or how boring his intrusion into our psyches was to us. His unconsciousness about what he was doing and how it was affecting people bordered on something obscene. I thought he shouldn’t be out doing this in public but needed to be behind closed doors, out of hearing and out of sight.

 The article had another interpretation, however. Author Douglas Quenqua wrote, “…Scientists have found another piece of evidence (besides that we have to reread what we’re reading 12 times when someone is using a cell phone sitting next to us on a bus) that overheard cell-phone conversations are far more distracting and annoying than a dialogue between two people nearby. Talking to someone who is not there hijacks the cognitive function of the bystanders. In other words, we want to fill in the missing part of the conversation when we only hear one side of it.

There’s even a word for this type of over-hearing: A one-sided dialogue is called a halfalogue. When we’re stuck near one of these we feel trapped and we have a stress response to it. We’re constantly forced to try to predict what’s going to happen next.”

Researchers also found out that we think these halfologues are really louder than they are. “When you can’t not pay attention to a sound, it seems louder.” The article goes on, “Though surveys have repeatedly placed public cellphone conversations at the top of Americans’ pet peeves, there are indications that the problem is easing. In 2006, 82 percent of Americans said they were at least occasionally annoyed by cellphone conversations in public. In 2012, that number dropped to 74 percent. ‘People are starting to recognize that it’s really rude to force other people to listen to your conversation.’”

May this trend continue!

For Famous Enneagram types, http://www.wagele.com/Famous.html

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-career-within-you/201303/why-are-cellphones-so-annoying