Mobile manners & mannerisms 2.0

The lessons aren't over yet...

Digest your next parcel of mobile etiquettes and learn them well!

Be safe than sorry
- You are putting yourself and others in grave danger when you talk while driving. Use handsfree otherwise you might be rendered "handsfree" on one of the days soon!

Even with handsfree,keep it short and sweet or pull over and talk your heart out. In petrol bunks, please avoid using cell phones or you might end up "enlightened". Do not switch on the phone as soon as the plane touches base. Apart from being good looking, the air hostess is also intelligent enuf when she says that it is for your own safety that you switch on the phone only when the doors open.

For the Dad's gift breed!
- Yes, your phone is cool and the pricey too! All the reasons to flash & flaunt it at the slightest provocation...after all tashan marne ki cheez hai. But the decorum in college/school says that you should not carry one, or if you do, keep it in switched off mode. The teacher's lecture is more important for your future than the santa-banta jokes or the latest MMS you have just received.

Say 'say cheese' at least!
- You would not want people to take your snap in public would you?.It's rude and offending if you click strangers without consent, even if your conscience is clear. And yes, the animals in the zoo do not dream of walking on the red carpet and do not love the paparazzi around. Please do not use flash when clicking their pictures.

Resist the temptation...try this for practice.

So, next time your phone does a hips don't lie in full blast in public, don't strike a phone saying "mera phone baja hai"

Mobile manners & mannerisms 1.0

Remember the first phone in your house…that hideous looking thing with a circular dial which went "crrrrng crrrrrng" when dialling a number? And your mother kept it covered so that it did not blot the decor of the room. Remember the trunk dialling sessions the family had in the evening when everyone in the colony came to know that "Mr. Sharma" is calling someone!?!

Move on to the mobile age where your handset says "Is this is what computers have become?", BUT have we moved enough to sync well with the modern mobile culture?

Perhaps it's high time for a lesson or two on mobile phone etiquettes which are never taught in school!

Control noise pollution!

- You might be loaded with the latest mp3 on your phone and your phone might produce the best bass and treble, but not all might be willing to "jhoom barabar jhoom" along with you. In office/meetings and crowded places it is advisable to let the vibrator remind you of an incoming call, while in theatres its better you keep the phone switched off! Who would want an Amitabh Bacchan dialogue get killed with some cranky voice beside?!?

Dumb? Deaf? Or what?

- Talk in a decent volume. Current technology guarantee that your voice reaches the other end untarnished, even when you whisper. But why do you need to make the world know that you are on a call? Do not shout when in conversation. Speak softly and say "Hello" to really mean it.

Keep Distance!

- Personal space is very dear with the kind of population we have. Respect it before it is extinct. Excuse yourself and move away from the group when you are on a call. People are also not interested in your boss at work or your child's falling grades! DO NOT discuss your private life in public.

“And here goes my mobile ringing.... So, like a good mobile user I will excuse myself now, and get back to you again...you have more lessons to learn!