Like, what the fuck. Waiting rooms, libraries, movie theaters, on and on. That same fucking Samsung notification sound, at volume 11/10. For every notification every 20 seconds as Fox/CNN/QVC forces more and more bullshit on you and therefore us. Do you not know that you’re pissing everyone off? Do you not care? I hope it’s because you’re too stupid to turn off sound notifications, but the high volume suggests that you like it and want more. Your generation was the one making us be quiet in public spaces and now you ruin them for everybody. Seriously, fuck you.
Notifications etc I can understand if you don’t know how to use tech properly.
What I don’t understand is how every older person seems to have loud speakerphone conversations in public. They had landlines most of their lives so why do this?
Just join in. That’s what speakerphone is for.
If you add in shouting at the phone to write text messages, you have my mother in law
Someone told them they’d get brain cancer.
Seriously though, a lot of us olds have our phones Bluetoothed to our hearing aids. So at least with us you only get to hear one side of the conversation. “I’M ON THE BUS!”
I disagree that it’s confined to an age group, but put into the category of speakerphone when inappropriate would be the people with their phone call paired to their car’s speakers, turned way up. I agree with a posted solution, either join in, visibly listen in, or just stare at them.
My mother can’t comprehend how to use a cell phone without it being on speaker. She also doesn’t know how to switch it to speaker. If I hand her the phone in normal mode she holds it out in front of her and can’t figure out why she can’t hear anything.
I mean… You just hold it like a telephone? Lol… Surely she’s used a telephone?
That’s what I do not understand. She does use home telephones the same way, on speaker, but with those she comprehends it’s not always in speaker mode and if not, to hold it up to her ear.
My mom is 75. She knows nothing about how cell phones work. She thinks to charge your phone you need to turn the phone off first.
She doesn’t understand that airplane mode turns off your voice and data radios.
She holds the phone like a star trek communicator, NOT on speaker, and then complains she can barely hear you.
I think the boomers brains are just mush.
Edit: forgot to mention she turns the airplane mode ON and then turns the whole phone OFF. Once it’s off, that’s when she plugs it in.
Then she complains that turning her phone on always takes a while. My brother in law installed an app that just turns airplane mode off upon boot. That “taking a while” is the radios turning back on.
Otherwise, she used to call him from her landline (yeah) weekly to say her phone was broken. Everhtime it was just still in airplane mode. She does what she wants, doesn’t understand any of it, and you can’t explain it or talk her out of doing it her way.
…and people on this site were trying to convince me to teach her linux. Hell I don’t even know what I’m doing on linux. That would be like the blind leading the stubborn.
While not as bad, my dad is kind of like that with phones. I installed Linux mint and honestly as long as the same ginormous Firefox icon (which I told him was the internet and YouTubes - same as windows) is around, he can still get to his karaoke and YouTube videos.
On my side I know it is pretty much impossible for him to get a malicious executable now, every few weeks we do upgrades when I visit which are a lot faster than windows updates.
My mom has long been clueless and resistant about anything tech related. Years back I switched her laptop to Linux because I was so sick of all the stupid crap with malware on windows. We used to have to Fix her computer one or more times a month. With Linux, that went to zero, and the only issue was setting up the software to download images from her camera (this was about 2010). These days she has a Chromebook and is constantly convinced it’s “screwed up”.
I’m continuously astonished that people like this exist (and so fucking many). How do they survive day to day?
I’ve never met her, but I hate her. My mom is almost as bad, going to weird lengths to misunderstand.
A conservative distro of Linux is more reliable than Windows. Debian or something. Overwrite the Windows so it can’t break the boot menu. Apple I don’t know about.
Hate is a very powerful word. If you hate people you’ve never even met, that may be more of a you problem that you should talk with a therapist about. My mom is stubborn, bipolar, and refuses to accept help. But she’s never done a single thing to you for you to hate her. That’s all on you…
Oh. I didn’t see hate like that. I hate it when my toes get wet after I’ve walked through a puddle. I hate clam dishes. All your mom did was resemble mine.
You’re misusing the word hate
I don’t think this post is a good fit. The name of the community is “mildly infuriating”, not “absolutely enraging”!
Its not just notifications. Its also them watching entire videos at high volume in waiting rooms, ads and everything. That or its endless scrolling and completely unrelated audio blasts chained together doing literal psychic damage to everyone around.
It drives me fucking NUTS. The worst part is they’re the ones that will be the first to complain about kids these days being glued to their phones.
OMG my dad does this while I’m on the phone with him. If I had a dollar for every time I had to tell him to turn off the video on his phone so I could hear him…
I would end the call at that point.
Oh, I have. More than once. The service at his house sucks so I don’t even have to fess up to it if I don’t want to, just seems like another dropped call.
It drives me fucking NUTS. The worst part is they’re the ones that will be the first to complain about kids these days being glued to their phones.
My dad used to call us the “No-frendo” generation. Nowadays I have to remind him constantly how rude it is to have you phone out at dinner, for example.
Not to mention that all the waiting rooms also have TVs in them, making noise. I really miss the days when you would go places and it was just quiet unless someone was talking (and it would be to someone physically present). The place I take my car for an oil change or whatever plays country music in its waiting room. It’s torture.
A neat thing about living in Japan is that there are announcements and signs everywhere telling you to please keep your phone silent and to turn down the volume on your headphones so that noise doesn’t leak out either. ‘Silent mode’ is literally called ‘manner mode.’
I’m going to start a community called, UnnecessarilyGenerational. This would be post #1.
My first thought was “How is this a boomer thing, I see people of all ages doing this.”
Fucking boomers and their Samsung phones. Why can’t they just be like us Millennials and our Apple iPhones? 😤
Typical zoomer reaction
That’s actually not a bad idea!
I suspect that a large part of the problem is a combination of hearing loss and a lack of subconscious awareness of their phone. In both cases (and especially combined), they would likely not even hear the notification if it was at a volume you or I would consider reasonable. So, from their perspective, it is quiet. Any quieter and it would be too quiet to notice.
Of course, anyone capable of basic empathy would also realise that such a perspective is their subjective experience of the world and simply turn the volume off/down until later to avoid annoying other people. Sadly, many of their ilk seem to have forgotten the lessons they taught us as kids.
For the record, not a boomer, but why are you targeting that group? Everywhere I go it is someone, just as often young as old, that thinks I want to hear their notifications, tiktok, or whatever bullshit of the day they want everyone to hear.
It’s almost always old people with their sound on, ime
To be fair, no it isnt.
It’s black people.
No it isnt, but you see my point.
Its inconsiderate assholes, not old people. Inconsiderate assholes are all ages. For instance, you are an inconsiderate asshole.
The most annoying phone thing to me is Zoomers / teens / old people / anyone with videos and music playing from their shitty little phone speakers in public. A lot of kids seem to be phone and tablet addicts and don’t comprehend the noise they’re making is bothering others.
But a few notification sounds is nothing. It’s all about the quantity and duration and volume. Personally I don’t put my phone on Silent or Vibrate unless I’m in a quiet public place like a movie or an office - but I also control all notifications with a heavy hand, not allowing any bullshit apps notification permission unless it’s an important direct communication.
Yeah I don’t get what the issue is with notification sounds.
I’m not sure what it is, but ever since I got a more modern phone, the vibration motor has just gotten so weak compared to older phones I’ve used. I legitimately do not feel my phone vibrating in my pocket.
So when I’m at work, if I’m expecting a message, I actually have to turn the sound on and listen for it as opposed to feel it vibrating. I hardly get any notifications tho.
As a boomer with tinnitus, (I’ve had since maybe 4 years old), and now hearing loss, I can’t hear shit on my cell phone at 50% volume. And I have alarms set to remind me to take certain inhalers at set times during the day, (Thanks Long Covid!). So, yeah, I have the volume up enough to probably piss you off. It pisses me off too-- I hate those things and having to live like this. But it’s not like turning the volume off or down is really an option for me.
But chances are I probably forgot the damn thing at home anyway.
Get a smart watch. I have adhd and rarely register notification tones, but my watch vibrating usually gets my attention. You can usually control what apps get to send notifications to it.
I have the garmin instinct and love it, but I do a lot of outdoor activities.
I have a uncle with a similar situation. He ended up getting him a smart watch. I don’t remember which, but the search was for the strongest vibrate he could find. The phones vibrate didn’t do the job, but he feels the wrist vibrate.
He also is used to wearing a watch so he feels weird without it and there fore doesn’t forget it.
Maybe that could help you.
I already wear a smart watch and use the vibrate reminders. It’s not particularly effective. After a lifetime in the harsh sun, there ain’t a lot of feeling left. Maybe once out of three times I might notice the vibration if I’m not distracted doing life things.
Not my experience at all, seems to be just about anyone can be an asshole.
I was in the library for the first time in ages, two of them actually. Mixed group of people, pretty busy. I am happy to say I heard not a single notification or phone ring the whole time. I hadn’t thought about it until you mentioned it. That was kind of refreshing. Unlike waiting rooms, the bus, coffee shop, the quiet lounge at the airport. Maybe I got lucky.
In my experience, boomers are by far the biggest group who does this. My parents are the worst offenders, so maybe that affects my perception. But any waiting room or library or whatever, it’s almost always boomers when I see it.
Yes but it isn’t only boomers. Teenagers do this all the time in public transport (usually watching loud videos) and they don’t have any excuses like for example being half deaf or not knowing how to mute their phone. It is one of the reasons why I prefer driving. I don’t want to have an argument with some stupid shit every time I get on the metro.
Honestly, have people forgotten headphones exist?
Not long ago, it used to be a mortifying social suicide to be the kind of person that let their phone make a noise in a public place—let alone for an extended period of time!
I’m in my early 40’s. I’m still mortified when the phone makes a sound when it shouldn’t. I always double check it’s on silent while going to a movie for example. Meanwhile there’s fuckheads three rows up playing TikTok at full volume while the trailers are running.
Honestly, you should legally be allowed to beat someone like that to death with their own device.
Honestly, you should legally be
allowedobligated to beat someone like that to death with their own device.FTFY.
So many phones don’t have headphones jacks anymore, and Bluetooth is a bigger hastle than just plugging in a wire. And all the cheap ones use Micro-B instead of C for charging, so now you have to worry about two wires. USB-C/lightning to Aux adapters are unnecessarily uncommon and take the charging port. Same with wired headphones that have a USB-C or lightning jack.
The tech companies have made courtesy inconvenient.
Bluetooth is a bigger hastle than just plugging in a wire.
What? Literally every single pair of Bluetooth headphones I own auto connect to my phone by the time I have both buds in my ears.
And all the cheap ones use Micro-B instead of C for charging
I bought a cheap pair of $20 anker ones a couple years ago for gardening and they’re USB c. Even the cheapo taotronics I got from AliExpress were USB c. I don’t think micro has been in use for a while now.
I have two sets of Bluetooth earbuds/headphones - in ear, and over the ear. But I connect them to my phone, my tablet, my laptop and my PC. They only stay connected to two devices so there are always two devices that aren’t connected. It’s a pain in the ass. I miss wired headphones.
Buy a third set and then pick two devices for each pair.
I’d believe some teenagers don’t know how to mute their phone. Tech illiteracy is off the chart these days, especially for young people.
I know engineers in their mid twenties who don’t know what an sd card is, or a megapixel, or the term “specs”. We have reached a stage of populism where people don’t care about anything but brand and just buy the most expensive model
If someone actively plays loud shit in public transport, they should get a lifetime ban for it. Nobody likes being on public transport; I’d drive a car if I could. I’m basically forced to be there.
So if someone actively makes that worse, they should be forced to walk and contemplate their life choices.
TIL that I’m nobody. I chose to live where I live because it meant that I could rely on public transportation and get rid of my car.
I don’t know if this is just boomers. I remember a person my age in Uni some years ago who just sat there with her freaking iPhone not silent, end every few minutes a message came with a loud “DING!”
Nah it’s Gen Z and their loud iPhone bell notifications.
WE’RE IN CLASS!! SILENCE YOUR PHONES DAMMIT!
No it’s any asshole listening to TikTok or YouTube on speaker
There is almost nothing worse than someone else’s tiktok feed playing out loud in the same room you are.
It’s insufferable.
OH NO
OH NO
OH NO NO NO
Constantly.
Oh god. I’ve got no carpet so sound moves well through my house despite doors being closed. Hearing something looping because they set their phone down while doing something. Why at such high volume child? After about 5 loops I yell.
First world problems
Around 5 billion people have smart phones, it was a first world problem a decade or two ago, everywhere has them. Hell for the poorest African nations a person is more likely to own a smart phone than a car or fridge.
My mom tried to watch Chinese drama shows on public transport. I told her to stop it before some pissed off hillbilly use violence (for context: at the time, there were some news reports of people getting shot for blasting loud music from their car)
Now that same hillbilly would come up to your mother and try to speak to her in broken Mandarin that they learned on RedNote.
Ni hao. Ni hao ma? Wo hen hao.
Sorry I haven’t learnt how to write Chinese yet.
C H I N E S E
Hotdang, nailed it first try!
你好
你是个笨蛋
操你妈，闭嘴
(totally not profanity 😉)
我要打破你的菊花.
The users on rednote are so friendly, teaching us common greetings in Chinese.
(totally not profanity 😉)
I don’t believe you. <checks> eh. coulda been worse.
Oh, my absolute favorites are the people that have the volume all the way up and send text messages. You get to hear the send/receive text alert over and over. Then there’s the ones that get the phone call with the obnoxiously loud ring, take forever to find their phone, look at it (still ringing loudly) to see who is calling, and don’t silence the ring while they decide whether or not to answer.
I see you’ve met my dad.
Lol, he must hang out in airports a lot.
My coworker does this with video and shit too it kills me…
5 guys in the same area, 4 of us know how headphones work, but Oldie McDust has to make us listen to his crap music and whatever video he’s listening to at the time…
He figured out how tictok works, even got himself a damn Bluetooth speaker but can’t bother to take the hint from the rest of us and get headphones…
Open-plan office spaces are pure torture.
Get him some cheap 90’s era headphones (you know with the ribbon head band, and the shitty foam pads,) and leave a passive-aggressive note informing him his listening happens suck.
My coworker does this too. Videos, messages, his fucking doorbell. I work from home now so it can’t bother me anymore, but idk how our boss can stand being in the same room as him.
He was playing a video during a teams meeting the other day and everyone could hear it. He didn’t stop when called out on it (boss wasn’t there that day), and the person leading the meeting literally said, “how does he keep getting unmuted?”
“Take the hint” i.e. we never told him it bothers us
Don’t try to hang Android phones on boomers. Boomers are dipshits with tech and iphones are designed for toddlers. Majority of boomers use iPhones.
We refer to iphones as boomerphones 😂
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