Phone speaker noise on trains - have we given up completely?

[Peakrider]

Remember when the main irritation was being able to hear tinny noise leaking from headphones, and if you were the culprit, someone might actually ask you to turn the volume down? I'd happily return to that time now.

I feel that things seem to have rapidly gone downhill in the past few years, such that quite a large number of people have now decided it's fine to play whatever you like on your phone or tablet or laptop speakers.

It's become so widespread that I now wonder if it would be me who's out of step with social norms, if I were to ask someone to turn it off or get some headphones.

In the past, there might be one person in a carriage causing the noise irritation and a number of people around looking sufficiently annoyed that you would feel you'd have some backup if you decided to be the challenger.

Doesn't feel so much like that now.

Quiet coaches are not all that much help. I don't think I've ever seen a member of railway staff all someone to turn something down - even in quiet coaches.

So, has society decided it's acceptable and I just have to get used to it, and bring some noise cancelling headphones on any journey where I don't want to have to listen to several people's choice in music/YouTube videos/football matches/speakerphone calls simultaneously?

For longer journeys I think I'd actually pay a little extra to sit in a quiet coach with a fully enforced zero tolerance policy.

I agree. I find it irritating. In the past I’ve politely asked people to turn their tinny headphones down and they’ve apologised profusely and been mortified that I could hear their music!!
I used to commute by bus. A chap got on every day and played his very loud music. One day the only seat left was beside me. He asked to sit down & I said he could if he didn’t play his headphones. He asked me why & I explained that I knew his playlist and listed the songs! He apologised and I laughed it off. We became bus buddies after that and always sat together! We chatted rather than play our headphones.
The other annoyance is people holding phone conversations with their phone on speaker! Unless of course it’s an interesting conversation, but they tend not to be!

 

[alxndr]

I definitely think there's been a shift in culture as to what people deem to be acceptable, and not for the better in my opinion. I feel that it's only polite to wear headphones or wear headphones at an appropriate level. The "worst" I'll personally do if there's something I need to quickly listen to and no headphones are to hand is play it with the volume as low as possible but holding the speaker right to my ear, and I certainly wouldn't do it for more than a few seconds. Phonecalls should only be on speaker if you're only with people for whom the call is of interest to avoid having to recount it all again, or perhaps if it's excessively windy and it's the only way to keep the microphone sheltered enough to be audible.

I've experienced more colleagues feeling it's acceptable to play videos aloud in vans or the mess room as well in the last couple of years. I had the embarrassment of ending up on the same train as a colleague last year who watched youtube videos aloud for the entire journey (we were not on speaking terms at the time or I would have challenged this). I have discovered though, after asking a colleague to wear headphones if he's going to watch inane Tiktok videos, that sometimes it's more annoying when you can't hear the video but you can still hear someone cackling with laughter every minute or so.

 

[BRX]

I've experienced more colleagues feeling it's acceptable to play videos aloud in vans or the mess room as well in the last couple of years.

It seems to be everywhere.

Recently I experienced it in a hospital clinic waiting room. To me that's totally unacceptable. I don't understand how people can feel it's ok to play comedy YouTube videos in that setting, where it's very likely other people may well be anxious, upset or simply feeling unwell. I don't get it.

 

[bramling]

It seems to be everywhere.

Recently I experienced it in a hospital clinic waiting room. To me that's totally unacceptable. I don't understand how people can feel it's ok to play comedy YouTube videos in that setting, where it's very likely other people may well be anxious, upset or simply feeling unwell. I don't get it.

It’s likely to be that many people have spent the last two years with little or no authority in their lives, nor contact with others outside of their own bubble, feeling empowered to do exactly as they please with no consequence.

 

[londonteacher]

Certainly one should not have loud conversations in the quiet coach.

The argument can be then made that if you don’t want to hear loud conversations or music you should sit in the quiet coach. Otherwise it’s up to the individual (however rude it is perceived).

I couldn’t care less either way to be honest.

 

[Bikeman78]

Yes, I am utterly sick of it, it is downright antisocial.

To me we need to modify the relevant Byelaw to simply prohibit, as a strict liability offence, playing out loud of devices. At present it requires it to cause annoyance, and so it is hard to say staff should enforce without being asked, which is how I think it should be.

Same here. Seems to be the norm rather than the exception. I insist that my kids wear headphones when they use their tablets.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 May 2022 ==

Yes, little children should be seen and not heard :/

My kids are a constant source of amusement when on trains. They say random stuff or ask slightly awkward questions and I often see other passengers laughing or giggling. However, I wouldn't let them play on their tablets without headphones.

 

[BRX]

The argument can be then made that if you don’t want to hear loud conversations or music you should sit in the quiet coach. Otherwise it’s up to the individual (however rude it is perceived).

I couldn’t care less either way to be honest.

Question is, what proportion of travellers want a generally quiet environment vs those who want a free-for-all (or don't care either way).

My guess (which might be wrong) is that most travellers want an environment free of electronically generated noise but are ok with a low level of in-person conversation.

In which case, instead of quiet coaches maybe we should have a "noisy coach", for those who want to make a racket or don't care, and everyone else can have a relaxing journey in a relative state of Zen.

 

[ChrisC]

Reading through this thread has actually been quite reassuring to read that so many others are irritated by noisy and inconsiderate behaviour on trains and in public spaces in general. I had begun to think it was just me that was becoming a miserable old git.

 

[Fratton Guard?]

On the last train I was on, everybody in my carriage was on some sort of device or other anyway, and most were using earphones / buds so they wouldn't have been able to hear noise generated by others not using them anyway.

 

[Jimini]

I posted this on another thread the other day, but seems relevant here. The other week I asked someone if they had any headphones available to use, so the rest of us didn't have to listen to the remainder of their hands-free conversation. This was his solution!

 

[AviationFR]

I posted this on another thread the other day, but seems relevant here. The other week I asked someone if they had any headphones available to use, so the rest of us didn't have to listen to the remainder of their hands-free conversation. This was his solution!


View attachment 113984

ironic as well considering the sign right NEXT to him

 

[TUC]

Yes, I am utterly sick of it, it is downright antisocial.

To me we need to modify the relevant Byelaw to simply prohibit, as a strict liability offence, playing out loud of devices. At present it requires it to cause annoyance, and so it is hard to say staff should enforce without being asked, which is how I think it should be.

Yes it is very annoying, but there is something very odd about railway culture when the answer to everything seems to be to write a bylaw about it, rather than address such issue through the same softer means that shops and other businesses would.

 

[Andypandy1968]

Yes it is very annoying, but there is something very odd about railway culture when the answer to everything seems to be to write a bylaw about it, rather than address such issue through the same softer means that shops and other businesses would.

More people need to grow a pair, call out unsociable behaviour by asking the annoying idiots to use headphones or turn it down. And no you won't get threatened because nearly every other passenger will gratefully back you up.

 

[ls2270]

Reading through this thread has actually been quite reassuring to read that so many others are irritated by noisy and inconsiderate behaviour on trains and in public spaces in general. I had begun to think it was just me that was becoming a miserable old git.

I couldn’t agree more . It’s getting absolutely ridiculous now and people who play electronic devices out loud are either extremely selfish or lack the intelligence to realise that the vast majority of others would prefer peace and quiet. All they have to do is put on earphones and problem solved they can listen to whatever rubbish that amuses them without irritating the hell out of everyone else!

 

[Horizon22]

This is indeed rather annoying, although it has made my noise-cancelling headphones even more of a worthwhile investment!

 

[bengley]

Absolutely despise this behaviour. I usually carry my good quality noise cancelling earphones (which can't be heard by non wearers) for just this reason - I don't want to listen to anyone else's tinny crap.

I've asked people to turn it off in the past, most of them have been quite rude as a result. They're the sort of people who don't give two hoots about anyone else, I suspect. Morons.

 

[physics34]

Its a virus that is currently cutting through public transport/daily life. Proof that a large quantity of people are inconsiderate.

 

[ls2270]

This is indeed rather annoying, although it has made my noise-cancelling headphones even more of a worthwhile investment!

Yes I am wearing mine now (although on a nice quiet train at the moment!). One of the best presents my wife has ever bought me!

 

[krus_aragon]

Simply wear headphones.

Why ? The current culture is for music playing out of a phone speaker, years ago it was 'boom boxes' If anything, its just the device has shifted but the culture hasn't

Another device change is that many people today prefer wireless, battery-operated earbuds. These may be aggravating the situation, by running out of charge and encouraging people to carry on listening with the built-in speaker.

(I dislike using headphones in general, and avoid them where possible. I tend to use my phone's built-in speaker for streaming podcasts at home. But I'd wilt in embarrassment before playing anything out loud on public transport.)

I am not a fancy dresser

You mean it wasn't you I saw last Halloween?!

 

[John Bishop]

Its a virus that is currently cutting through public transport/daily life. Proof that a large quantity of people are inconsiderate.

Yep, I think it is typical of the increasing ignorant behaviour of the British public these days in all walks of life. I dread to think what things will be like in 5-10 years time!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Another device change is that many people today prefer wireless, battery-operated earbuds. These may be aggravating the situation, by running out of charge and encouraging people to carry on listening with the built-in speaker.

The batteries last ages on the modern ones in the cases. The interim period of having rechargeable smaller ones with a wire connecting them but not to the device probably led to that though.

 

[Fyldeboy]

I would actually suggest that playing music out loud is much more of treating the public space as a personal one than wanting someone else not to. By playing music out loud you are doing something that actually modifies the space to your preferences at the expense of others'.

Spent a very grumpy time on a GW HST listening to some lady scrote constantly playing Ed Sheeran and singing (badly) along to it. I don't totally dislike Mr Sheerans efforts but I couldn't decide if the wifi/spotify unreliability was good (not playing music for a while) or bad (profanities and then the same song duplicated from the start)

 

[TheSeeker]

No problem with graffiti but phones on speaker is a pet hate. Not sure it's a new thing though. Transistor radios probably started it (1954?). Ghetto blasters in the late seventies.

 

[MalaiseForever]

Funnily enough, I was reading this thread yesterday and thinking what is the fuss about, as I had never really experienced this on my journeys.

Well, low and behold this morning, 0816 from Crewe to MK, one lady showing her very disinterested friend a load of videos, at full volume. Very annoying. After 5 minutes I asked her to stop, which to be fair she did without any fuss. I think her friend was very relieved I had saved her from suffering through anymore videos!

 

[gazzaa2]

I usually just have my own headphones on to block most noise out.

When i don't what usually annoys me is people taking calls on the phone. You can't sit in a train carriage now without someone having a conversation on their phone and they talk louder when on a train. I remember people would go to end of the train if they were answering a call.

People just have a complete lack of empathy, or self awareness, now in terms of the effects their noise has on others.

It's usually when you get groups of people together, especially kids, they think nothing of just playing videos to each other.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I usually just have my own headphones on to block most noise out.

When i don't what usually annoys me is people taking calls on the phone. You can't sit in a train carriage now without someone having a conversation on their phone and they talk louder when on a train. I remember people would go to end of the train if they were answering a call.

People just have a complete lack of empathy, or self awareness, now in terms of the effects their noise has on others.

I find far fewer people are talking on the phone as text communication is more popular. It's music, TV shows, game tunes etc that are the current blight. And to be honest I find human conversation far less annoying than any of those.

 

[MalaiseForever]

When i don't what usually annoys me is people taking calls on the phone. You can't sit in a train carriage now without someone having a conversation on their phone and they talk louder when on a train. I remember people would go to end of the train if they were answering a call.

I took a quick call on the train this morning, I don't really see what the difference is between two people sitting together and having a conversation on the train anyway.

It would have been nigh on impossible to move to the end of the carriage anyway as I was in the window seat of a table of 4, blocked in by another passenger and there were plenty of standees blocking the corridor anyway.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I took a quick call on the train this morning, I don't really see what the difference is between two people sitting together and having a conversation on the train anyway.

It's slightly more annoying for some people because the brain has trouble dealing with being able to hear half a conversation. The old issue of people shouting because mobiles, unlike landlines, don't have feedback into the earpiece, seems to have gone away now everyone uses mobiles all the time and landlines aren't really as much of a thing as they were.

 

[gazzaa2]

I took a quick call on the train this morning, I don't really see what the difference is between two people sitting together and having a conversation on the train anyway.

It would have been nigh on impossible to move to the end of the carriage anyway as I was in the window seat of a table of 4, blocked in by another passenger and there were plenty of standees blocking the corridor anyway.

I've not got a problem with it per se, it's the constant nature of it. If you're sat on a busy train carriage for an hour, you've got people around you constantly making and answering calls and they tend to talk louder when on a train.

Sitting on a train now is like being next to a busy phone box.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 May 2022 ==

Yes, I am utterly sick of it, it is downright antisocial.

To me we need to modify the relevant Byelaw to simply prohibit, as a strict liability offence, playing out loud of devices. At present it requires it to cause annoyance, and so it is hard to say staff should enforce without being asked, which is how I think it should be.

Rather than the announcement from the Transport department about 'getting rid of pointless announcements' on the train that cause noise, why won't they do anything about this kind of passenger noise?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 May 2022 ==

Question is, what proportion of travellers want a generally quiet environment vs those who want a free-for-all (or don't care either way).

My guess (which might be wrong) is that most travellers want an environment free of electronically generated noise but are ok with a low level of in-person conversation.

In which case, instead of quiet coaches maybe we should have a "noisy coach", for those who want to make a racket or don't care, and everyone else can have a relaxing journey in a relative state of Zen.

One of the issues with having a 'quiet coach' is it can make people think all the other coaches can be a free for all of noise.

 

[BRX]

More people need to grow a pair, call out unsociable behaviour by asking the annoying idiots to use headphones or turn it down. And no you won't get threatened because nearly every other passenger will gratefully back you up.

It's not just fear of being threatened that might stop people calling it out - if the person causing the noise is sat next to you or at a table with you, then even if they comply, you might have to spend the rest of the journey in an awkward atmosphere because they now resent you.

It should really be the job of train staff. While I get it that no-one wants confrontation (and the threat that might be attached) in their job, if it's already your duty to challenge people travelling without a valid ticket, then you ought also to be able to ask people to turn the noise down.