I wrote a blog before about cellphone etiquette, and how to be courteous in the use of your phone. Now I’m going to suggest some reasons why it’s to your advantage to switch off your phone – and others when it really would be inappropriate for your phone to ring!
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If you’re enjoying an intimate encounter, then for god’s sake remember to switch off the phone! You do not want to be interrupted! Not only may you find it hard to regain the mood, but your partner would be less than impressed if you expect him to wait while you chat to your mates.
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Since funerals are generally solemn occasions (although I’m planning a bit of a party for mine), it really wouldn’t be appropriate for phones to go off in the middle of the service. Imagine Lady GaGa, Crazy Frog or that irritating Nokia tune going off just as the vicar intones ‘our dear brother was a good man …’
Just because the phone is there, it doesn’t mean that you have to be a slave to it! It should be there for your convenience, not the other way round. If you want to be incommunicado, then go right ahead.
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A cinema is not a giant phone booth, so put that cell on silent! Is there one of us who hasn’t had a film interrupted by a call to a fellow cinemagoer, who invariably then takes the call? I look forward to the day when cinemas offer ‘phone creches’, or that a film won’t start until every phone has been switched off …
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Let’s say you’ve had an exhausting week at work, it’s Friday night, and you really need to catch up on your sleep. Best switch that phone off, or it’s almost guaranteed that it will ring just as you’ve dropped off to sleep, or about 3 hours before you want to wake up. Even if no one ever calls you, this will be the one time that someone does.
It’s best to leave your phone outside if you are taking an exam, but if you must have it in the room then SWITCH IT OFF! I have heard of someone failing the exam as a result of their phone ringing, so don’t take the chance.
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It’s often advised that if you are on a date with someone you’re meeting for the first time, get a friend to call to check everything’s OK. Once you’ve decided that the person is not a psycho, however, then best switch the phone off. Intimate dates are not really helped if they are constantly interrupted by your friends calling!
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This may be an apocryphal story, although given the ubiquitousness of cellphones, if it hasn’t happened yet, it will surely do so. I once read about a phone ringing just as the vicar spoke the traditional words ‘If anyone knows of any reason why these two should not be joined …’
Have you ever been embarrassed by your cellphone going off at a spectacularly inappropriate moment? Or silently fumed as your date ignored you while they took a call?
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