Amid Backlash, Calls for Cell Phone Etiquette

By JENNIFER OLDHAM

July 15, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Secondhand cell phone conversations are fast replacing secondhand smoke as public enemy No. 1 in crowded venues nationwide.

Once a status symbol, mobile phones have become a necessity for about 76 million Americans--in grocery stores, commuter trains, public restrooms, even at weddings. But while cell phone use in such venues has become commonplace, public acceptance has not.

As is the case with many new technologies that move into the mainstream, there are no social norms dictating how and where to use a mobile phone.

And it shows.

Fed up with customers who have phones attached to their ears, restaurants, theaters, colleges and churches have taken steps to ban mobile phone use. Those who ignore the policies face the wrath of other patrons and often are forced to conduct their conversations outside.

“Whenever someone’s cell phone would ring, 18 sets of eyes would roll in their sockets,” said restaurateur Danny Meyer, who has asked patrons to turn off their mobile phones in the four eateries he co-owns in New York. “A lot of people were being downright rude and showy and talking way over the crowd.”

Patrons at New York’s popular Union Square Cafe are greeted with signs that read, “Please 86 all cell phone use in the dining room.”

It should hardly come as a surprise that mobile phones have become as common as day planners for busy Americans. The 76 million mobile phone users in the U.S. represent a 300% increase from the 19 million in 1994, according to the Cellular Telephone Industry Assn. And the number is expected to grow 25% annually as more people take advantage of offers for free phones and free calling time.

But with the influx of any time-anywhere communication comes the inevitable backlash. Call them the mobile phone etiquette pioneers, the brave souls who have dared to suggest that being tethered to the world 24 hours a day might not be such a good idea.

At UCLA’s new law library, officials took action to silence mobile phones after conversations created a ruckus in the first-floor reading room.

“During finals in May, we had so many complaints from students about cell phones that we put up a laminated sign with a big phone with a slash through it,” said Karen Nikos, director of communications at the UCLA School of Law.

At the Stephen S. Wise Temple in Los Angeles, rabbis decided to print an announcement at the bottom of a weekly bulletin asking worshipers not to use their phones at the synagogue.

Even those who are often associated with avid mobile phone use--business moguls, movie stars and media titans--are being asked to turn off their phones at the world’s premier film festivals, including Sundance, Telluride and Cannes.

The quandary over the correct way to use a mobile phone mimics similar break-in periods for other technologies. Take the transistor radio. This hand-held music receiver evolved into an enormous boombox, which people played in public at ever-higher decibel levels. To stem abuse, the consumer electronics industry devised a profitable solution: the Walkman. Wireless carriers are reaching for similar solutions to cell phone abuse, such as call waiting, voicemail and vibrating alerts rather than ringers.

But intrusive cell phone use may not be the result of cheaper technology so much as the overall demise of common courtesy in the United States.

“This is one part of a larger patchwork of behavior that shows disrespect for the value of public space and public discourse and sense of community in favor of celebration of oneself,” said Jim Katz, a professor of communications at Rutgers University in New Jersey and author of “Connections: Social and Cultural Studies of the Telephone in American Life.”

Once purchased for use only in emergencies, mobile phones today are wielded in such a freewheeling manner that it’s no wonder that stabs at imposing mobile phone etiquette have taken users by surprise.

Whittier resident Doris Riley didn’t think twice recently when she dialed her boss during breakfast at one of her favorite eateries. But she considered boycotting its rich coffee after she was kicked out of the dining room during a call.

“The owner came running at me very loud and said: ‘You can’t use a cell phone here. We have people eating and they want to eat in peace,’ ” she said. “I was really embarrassed because it’s so small there. Everything went dead silent.”

Millie’s, a hip Silver Lake hangout that Riley often visits with friends, is among a growing number of Southland restaurants that ask diners to yak outside. Owner Patti Peck says that when someone makes a call in the dining room, it’s not unusual for the staff to start chanting, “No phones, no phones” and for customers to join in.

Even those who make the rules have a tough time following them. Terrence O’Brien, artistic director of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, asked an actor to admonish the audience that cell phones and beepers should be turned off during the opening production of “Twelfth Night” last month.

Then, in the middle of an impassioned speech by Orsino, a phone went off. Irate, O’Brien glanced around the crowd, only to discover the offender was himself.

And the problem is not limited to the U.S. In Israel, where one in three people owns a mobile phone thanks to poor land-line service, a company is testing a device that jams signals in public places.

In Japan, where a Hiroshima man was so angered by a conductor’s request to stop talking on his phone that he jumped off the train and blocked the tracks, this blocking technology is being installed to create “call-free zones.” (Such technology is illegal in the U.S.)

Some nations have cracked down on the use of mobile phones in cars. Driving while using a phone is against the law in Brazil, Israel and Australia.

Back in the U.S., lawmakers in 13 states have introduced bills that would outlaw talking on a phone in a vehicle or require drivers to use a hands-free phone. Some of these bills provide exceptions for calls made in case of emergency.

In New York, the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission enacted a provision, which went into effect July 1, that requires its 93,000 drivers to park their cars before making a call.

“This was a public-safety issue. We were getting a lot of complaints from passengers that taxi drivers were on their cell phones from the moment they got in the cab and were still on it 50 blocks later,” said Diane McGrath-McKechnie, the commission’s chairwoman.

In addition, some energy companies have taken notice of a warning printed in some mobile phone instructions that says using a phone while refueling could spark a fire. Although the company has yet to experience a problem, Exxon recently placed “Turn Off Cellular Phones” stickers on pumps at its company-owned gas stations.

Concerned that the recent trend to curb mobile phone use could harm their business, many wireless carriers are trying to educate customers on the finer points of using their phones. Omnipoint, a Cedar Knolls, N.J.-based wireless carrier, published a hardcover book, “Wireless Etiquette: A Guide to the Changing World of Instant Communication,” by Peter Laufer, a Sonoma County journalist.

Terry Phillips, Omnipoint’s director of external affairs, said executives were initially reluctant to endorse the idea.

“First of all, we’re not in the business of publishing books,” Phillips said. “Second, we’re not in the business of telling our customers not to use our product. It would be tantamount to General Motors saying to motorists, ‘Don’t drive on Sunday.’ ”

The book suggests that the mobile phone user control the technology, not the other way around. Thus the user would inform colleagues or friends that she expects a call to come in during lunch or a meeting. When a call comes in, leave the table. If the phone rings during a play or church services, switch the ringer off and let voicemail take the call.

It’s likely that many consumers won’t take kindly to the rules suggested in the book--or the notion that entertainment establishments can tell them how to behave.

Ron Riddle, a resident of Dayton, Ohio, doesn’t own a cell phone. But he does eat out often and is all in favor of restaurants controlling the atmosphere in their dining rooms--within limits.

“Which seating preference would you like this evening, sir?” Riddle said. “Smoking or nonsmoking? Cell phone or non-cell phone? Crying babies or non-crying babies? Loudmouth drunks or non-loudmouth drunks?”

Those on etiquette’s front lines say they have received positive feedback about their policies. Roberto Aguilar, who manages the French restaurant Aubergine in Newport Beach, said a request on the menu--”Please no cell phones, thank you”--has prompted customers to tell him they were amazed to not hear one ring during their meal.

For New York restaurateur Meyer, the freshly imposed restrictions at his establishments haven’t hurt business.

“I have a file full of letters from people saying, ‘Thank you for taking a stand.’ Most people are happy to know what you expect of them,” he said. “This technology has grown up so quickly that most people have not stopped to think what the etiquette should be.”

Are you annoyed by the use of mobile phones in public venues? Vent your views in a discussion at The Times’ Web site: http://ukobiw.net/phones.

* THE CUTTING EDGE

Expanded Thursday coverage of personal technology begins today. C1, C6-7