0		Mobile, phone, noise, and, social, stress

(I will be traveling to Manila over the weekend, so it's likely that my "daily blog" streak will have to end.)

I guess everyone has experienced annoying phone conversations everywhere. On the bus, on the train, on the streets, some people just don't realize they are sharing their conversations, nonsense talk and secrets to the whole community.

There are animated discussions that provoke body language and there are others who seemed to talk in person and not through the telephone. While it has bridged the distance gap, cut processing time and made things work more efficiently, in Hong Kong it's sometimes becoming one source of stress to people. Look at the bus uncle incident and its effect in the society.

Japanese model
In Japan it is discouraged to use a phone for conversation on the train. People will frown at you when you use your phone in conversation while on the train. It is strongly recommended to turn mobile phone off especially on designated seats for the elderly because it might affect the operation of pacemakers and other life saving devices possibly functioning within the area.

In Hong Kong, many people don't have similar manners in phone usage as in Japan. It's like they have just acquired a new gadget to play around and there is no such thing called public mode where telephones must not cause disturbance to others. It still rings even in the middle of services in churches and on places where usage of telephone ("please turn off your mobile or pagers") is generally given as a reminder.

There is 3G, SMS and e-mail capabilities in place but it's the voice calls usage that dominate I guess.

Who is to blame?
In Hong Kong, mobile phone companies pamper their subscribers into offering thousands of minutes a month on air time. For example, a 538 monthly tariff at 3 Hong Kong comes with a combined 9,000 minutes (150 hours) per month. Wow, that's more than six days straight talking and one in every five minutes for the whole month. Do people really talk that often?

On the other hand, the cost of SMS is prohibitive. It seems like it is discouraged to use SMS made across different networks are charged a hefty amount.

Worse, they are offering virtually useless things such as ring tones and other personalization options. One must be proud to hear his/her favorite pop star's voice everytime someone tries to reach him/her.

Ultimately, I can only blame the stiff competition (which has an obvious benefit to the consumers) and general neglect by the public on building up manners as much as the Japanese people do.

Typically in the elevator (lift) mobile phones don't work and it seems a good relief to be in that big box with people whose phones are rendered useless. But I found some lifts are covered with some networks. I saw one covered by New World Mobility. Thanks a lot for allowing these freaks to use the elevator as an extension to discuss the gossip.

Heart To Heart
Plans often have a "heart to heart" packages which is basically "free" calls to handsets using the same network. If I have a friend who uses the same network as I do, s/he qualifies as a my "heart to heart" partner which saves minutes for the regular line. This helps prevent the occurrence of minutes overuse. And the notion that I should use every minute in my package because whether I use it or not I will pay for it.

[sarcasm]So when I am bored in the bus, I will flick over the list of contacts and make a random pick on who to engage in a conversation even if there's nothing special to talk about. After all, this mobile phone is used to keep in touch with friends and brag about this new model if I just bought the latest one.[/sarcasm]

What should we do?
I am not aware if the government is doing something to legislate this. To me, the reminders on churches, public performances and stickers on the bus should be enough to remind people of proper use of telephones. We are no longer kids to be taught about this. We can lower down our voices or at least cover our mouth with our hands if we can't control it.

Let's not be a source of stress to other people.