Previous Story: Mozilla warns of security holes, fixes Firefox
Next Story: France Telecom CEO becomes French minister of finance

WORLDBEAT : Digital decorum for the urban masses
By Scarlet Pruitt

You're hip, you're urban, and you're on the go.

Before you leave the house each morning you make sure your headphones are snugly tucked into your ears, ensuring that no matter how bad the commute goes, it's at least to your own soundtrack. As the train doors snaps shut, you shove yourself into the last millimeter of space, and apologize at high volume to your fellow passengers. With your playlist still rolling you buy your newspaper from a man who mouths the price before you nearly get hit by a silent ambulance.

Perhaps it's time for some iPod etiquette?

With the growing number of devices now hitting city streets a new question is emerging on how to use them in a way that connects, rather than isolates, you with other people. It may sound basic, but a recent survey on a busy London street indicates that there may be a problem.

"It drives me mad to hear three different peoples' music blasting through their headphones at me on the train," said London commuter Rob Shaw.

And volume is not the only concern. "People leave their iPods on when they go into shops and buy things. Now that's just rude," Shaw added.

Music listeners aren't the only worry as cell phone wielders are also coming under fire.

"I have a friend who texts constantly when she's with other people. It's really antisocial," said one Londoner who declined to be named so as not to offend the texter in question.

"It's rude when you are talking to someone and they are texting or listening to their music," agreed taxi driver Henry Mukasa. "But there is no replacement for a cell phone," he mused.

Ah, the cell phone. Not only does it allow users to break off boring conversations to make or receive calls, it now lets us text during live conversations in a sort of social multitasking. But should friends let friends text and talk? Surely there's some need for digital decorum here.

However people use cell phones, many Britons would seem to agree with Mukasa that they are irreplaceable. In fact, a new survey sponsored by U.K. bank Lloyds TBS PLC found that 63 percent of people polled feel concerned if they leave their cell phone at home. They join an already worrying group of e-mail addicts. The same poll found that 72 percent of respondents felt anxious if they were unable to check their e-mail for a day. >{? These people have a problem and its called Mobile and Internet Dependency Syndrome (MAIDS), according to Lloyds. MAIDS has swept the U.K. with some notably acute cases. Of the 936 Britons polled, 3 percent said they feel "panicky or freaked out" if they leave their mobile phone at home, while a further 1 percent suffer physical symptoms like a racing heart or sweaty palms, the bank said.

The young are particularly vulnerable to the disease, with 33 percent of respondents aged between 16 and 24 saying that they return home to retrieve forgotten cell phones rather than suffer the stress.

When called about the poll, Lloyds had no antidote for the syndrome, but referred to advice given to them by U.K. life coach Gladeana McMahon. Retain a sense of perspective and realize that a day without your mobile phone is not the end of the world, Gladeana said. The life coach recommended that people with severe cases see a stress expert. As for those who text and talk: prioritize.

That advice may help the over-communicators, but what about the isolators or hard-core headphone wearers?

We turned to iPod DJ club promoter Jonny Rocket for some advice. An iPod DJ club, for those not in the know, is a place where people can bring their own music playlist in for a spin and compete against other digital DJs for rewards and recognition.

Rocket sees a lot of iPod users in action and says that their music is both a friend in silence and a group activity. Those who shuffle along (no pun intended) only listening to their own tunes are missing half of the point, he said. That's why Rocket endorses his playlist club (www.ipod-dj.com) -- "to take a personal technology and mutate it into a collective experience."

As for iPod etiquette when users are darting to work, music at full blast, at least take the headphones off and say hello when you're buying your coffee, Rocket recommended. It adds a little human warmth, he added.

Posted February 28, 2005 04:55 PM |