Has the smartphone ruined modern manners?

We’ve all been there: you’re on the train trying to unwind after a long day when the familiar blare of a mobile phone pierces your ears and you’re soon a passenger in someone else’s conversation. It’s an all too familiar scene thanks to the surge in popularity of the smartphone.

In the 12 weeks up to 22 January 2012, smartphones made up 71.4% of all mobile phone sales in the UK. There’s a reason for this of course: smartphones are more advanced than ever, with more and more capability.

They connect us 24/7 to the outside world. We conduct not only our social but also our business lives from them.

But they have also brought about behaviour that many regard as downright rude. A recent survey of 2,000 smartphone owners by mobile phone website Recombu.com showed that more than 68% would answer their phone during a dinner date, with 14% freely admitting they’d answer even if they knew the call wasn’t important.

Furthermore, this discourteousness extends to messages, emails and other notifications. So what constitutes smartphone etiquette? Here are a few tips.

The ringtone

Consider what your ringtone says about you and when it’s likely to be heard. Closet death-metal rocker? Perhaps your work colleagues won’t appreciate the sultry tones of Cannibal Corpse’s latest opus every time your mum calls. To put it simply, if it’s likely to embarrass you in any situation, change it.

Think too about volume. Yes, you want to be able to hear it but do you also want everyone else assaulted by it at full volume? If brows furrow and glances are cast your way, turn it down. Or better still, opt for the silent and vibrate route and save everyone’s ears. They can always leave a message if it’s important.

Quiet zones

The last respite of peace and quiet on trains, a phone conversation here is the height of bad manners. Turn your phone to silent before you enter, and if you’re listening to music, watching a video or playing a game, use sound isolating headphones and make sure those around you can’t hear it too. If you really need to take a call, go to another carriage.

Clean conversations

If you’re chatting in public, chances are those around you can hear your conversation (or at least your half of it).

Don’t shout, swear or start explaining in explicit detail your finances, your love life, your bodily functions and whom you hate at work. And leave your arguments for behind closed doors. Dinner date

No matter if it’s a first date, with your other half or a catch-up with the parents, don’t break out your smartphone during dinner.

Even placing it on the table is declaration that if it calls, you will answer and implies the as yet unknown person at the other end is automatically more important than the person in front of you.

If, it does ring, do you really need to answer it? If yes, make your excuses and leave the table to talk, but never conduct a conversation while your companion watches on helplessly – it might even make them reach for their own smartphone and kill your dinner completely.

Public/private

Dealing with other business such as paying in a shop or café or generally interacting with people is particularly insulting if you’re ignoring them in favour of your phone, whether you’re chatting or checking the football scores. Eye contact and undivided attention take little time and cost nothing.

Switch to silent if you’re going into a cinema, meeting or library and the like.

And please, never, ever call or answer from a toilet – it’s just not acceptable.

Smart move

Research shows that we don’t want to miss anything – and our smartphones are the solution to this desire. Recombu’s survey revealed that 37% of Britons say their mobile or smartphone is the one gadget they couldn’t live without, and 59% keep hold of their phones all the time.

Follow the simple rules of smartphone etiquette and we can all live in a more connected and more polite world.