Welcome or not, cell phones set for subway
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-02-06 09:56

Cell Phone Manners

In seeking public comment last year, the Federal Communications Commission, which deals with if it's technically feasible to operate phones on planes, heard from thousands of people, many of whom focused on passenger "air rage."

"Can you imagine 13 hours to Beijing next to someone on a cell phone?" asked Fern Lowenfels, a Manhattanite walking in the city's Upper West Side.

According to Katz, research shows cell phones become annoying because the human brain is uncomfortable listening to just one half of a conversation. "Without that other part of the conversation, our brain constantly thinks we're being tickled to be involved," he said.

Michael Malice, author of the book "Overheard in New York," said bad cell phone behavior gives him good material.

"It's just tacky and gauche. That's all there is to it," he said. "But most people are tacky and gauche."

The Straphangers Campaign, which represents the interests of city subway riders, is "firmly and resolutely ambivalent," said Gene Russianoff, attorney for the group.

"There's people who want to be permanently wired, and then there's a big contingent that ironically view the one private moment they have during their busy day is on the subways."

Cell phones have gotten a bad reputation -- from being used as detonators in high-profile assassinations to the devices that spread mass insanity in Stephen King's newest horror tale "Cell: A Novel." But, Malice noted, phones are not to blame.

"After September 11, none of us are really in a position to criticize cell phones entirely," he said. "So many people were able to call their families and talk to them one last time.

"If you were trapped and your family was freaking out and you were able to call them, a lot of minds would be put at ease," he said.