(more) antisocial behaviour on trains

[Haywain]

I've only had one iPhone, and they came in the box with that. Which was very confusing because I had an almost identical set for my Android phone with the 3.5mm jack instead.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've only had one iPhone, and they came in the box with that. Which was very confusing because I had an almost identical set for my Android phone with the 3.5mm jack instead.

Fairly early on they did but they soon stopped to save money (presumably).

 

[Purple Train]

Perhaps it's just me but this feels like something that's got worse since the pandemic. There was always a level of people not being considerate of others but it feels like it's much more common now that you'll come across someone listening to something on their phone without headphones. I wonder if people got used to being in their own little space and able to do what they wanted and that behaviour has translated into their public behaviour?

That's my observation as well. Pretty much everyone I know who's my age isn't able to gauge the level of noise they are producing and how that feels for someone, for instance, in the same train carriage. I think we just got used to talking on Zoom. I'm quite sensitive to loud noise and dislike attention of any sort, so I ask them to keep it quiet, but I haven't a clue what they're like when I'm not there

I think the most unhelpful assumption is that noisiness (and other lower-level antisocial behaviour) is a product of the same specimens that swear and fight and rampage, and, in my experience, that isn't the case - it's a by-product of the pandemic in many, many quarters, and in people that are otherwise perfectly well-behaved and respectable.

 

[al78]

I have noticed that noise pollution has got worse on trains over the years (see it say it sorted is nothing by comparison), some of which might be a side effect of the pandemic (some dogs appear not to have been socialised properly which I suspect is due to the same social isolation during the pandemic), and some is because there are a lot of thoughtless morally dead people in society who's parents never civilised them properly, then they go on to have children of their own and apply the same crap parenting, and so the cycle repeats. Another contribution is the lack of consequences. If you are not used to doing something like thinking of others it takes cognitive effort to do so, not putting in the effort is easier than doing so, and if there are no consequences to not bothering, why bother? Wouid there be so much thoughlessness around if there was the risk of a good beating in retaliation, for example? As the saying goes, civilised men are more discourteous than savages because they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing (Robert E. Howard). Symtoms of thoughtless are not confined to unnecessarily inflicting noise on others. People who park trollies in the middle of an aisle in supermarkets leaving gaps either side that are just too narrow to get another trolley past, dog walkers who stop in the middle of a junction of paths to have a conversation simultaneously blocking every path, middle lane hoggers on motorways, the five abreast brigade on pavements walking at half the average walking pace. Whilst any one incident is minor and can be brushed off quickly, when you are on the receiving end of multiple externalities of thoughlessness every day, it can chip chip chip away at your tolerance, and this is why you get things like road rage when the straw breaks the camel's back and someone finally loses their temper like an explosive volcanic eruption.

 

[Krokodil]

Perhaps it's just me but this feels like something that's gotten worse since the Pandemic

Manners have definitely gone out of the window, ask anyone working in a public-facing role.

I seem to spend quite a bit of my time asking people to remove their feet from the seats these days. I wouldn't mind if they would remove their shoes.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Manners have definitely gone out of the window, ask anyone working in a public-facing role.

I seem to spend quite a bit of my time asking people to remove their feet from the seats these days. I wouldn't mind if they would remove their shoes.

Curiously Merseyrail are big on prosecuting people for doing this (good) but their heavies seem to ignore people playing rubbish out loud despite this also being an offence (bad).

 

[contrex]

Oh that's a good shout actually, and that trend really kicked off over the course of the Pandemic as well which would tie into my observation. What a daft idea ditching the 3.5mm jack it has been.

My brand new Motorola Moto G 14 has a 3.5mm jack, and I use Sony earbud headphones that cost £10 in Tesco.

 

[ainsworth74]

My brand new Motorola Moto G 14 has a 3.5mm jack, and I use Sony earbud headphones that cost £10 in Tesco.

Well yes, they're not impossible to find but certainly they're much less common than they were. Once Apple laid the way and got away with it, it appears many others followed!

 

[Krokodil]

Curiously Merseyrail are big on prosecuting people for doing this (good) but their heavies seem to ignore people playing rubbish out loud despite this also being an offence (bad).

As with the feet on seats, it's something I don't tolerate on my trains.

 

[Bletchleyite]

As with the feet on seats, it's something I don't tolerate on my trains.

Good

 

[Peter0124]

Excellent quality bluetooth wrap-around-neck earphones for £30 here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SoundPEATS-Q35-HD-Headphones-Waterproof-Black/dp/B0CSYNCQZN

I don't understand those who pay upwards of £200 for 'apple airpods' when theres a high risk of losing them! Whereas not so much with the ones I linked!

 

[Mojo]

This is not a new thing. Anyone who lived in London during the mid-2000s cannot fail to remember the scourge of teenagers playing music out loud on buses. It got so bad there were numerous questions asked in the London Assembly with the mayor eventually being persuaded to have TfL start a campaign against music being played out loud, including posters and stickers on buses, and the Ts and Cs for the free Oyster card for school age children being changed to state that playing music out loud will result in its withdrawal.

The main change that I have noticed in the last two years is that it is not music being played out loud, but TikTok videos / Instagram Reels and Facebook Videos that are being played out loud. And typically in my experience it is not always children but across the ages. It is exceptionally irritating and frustrating.

 

[Purple Train]

I have noticed that noise pollution has got worse on trains over the years

I assume you mean loud passengers, but this, in its literal sense, is part of the problem. Station announcements shout over each other (and ten times worse when they're manual), and repeat more times than is strictly necessary. Dispatchers shout. On the train, more constant noise (albeit quieter), more constant announcements. It's an environment full of noise, and it only encourages antisocial noise and shouting.

I'm not trying to excuse it by any means. But the modern railway is a very loud place, and, while much of the content is necessary, the volume often isn't.

 

[Thirteen]

This is not a new thing. Anyone who lived in London during the mid-2000s cannot fail to remember the scourge of teenagers playing music out loud on buses. It got so bad there were numerous questions asked in the London Assembly with the mayor eventually being persuaded to have TfL start a campaign against music being played out loud, including posters and stickers on buses, and the Ts and Cs for the free Oyster card for school age children being changed to state that playing music out loud will result in its withdrawal.

The main change that I have noticed in the last two years is that it is not music being played out loud, but TikTok videos / Instagram Reels and Facebook Videos that are being played out loud. And typically in my experience it is not always children but across the ages. It is exceptionally irritating and frustrating.

Could we ban people from having speaker phone conversations? That's my pet peeve more than loud music.

 

[andythebrave]

I was coming back from York to Peterborough on the train a few years ago - and YES, I WAS in the quiet carriage - and my phone "pinged" ONCE, which was my Dad texting me to ask what time I was due back into Peterborough as he was picking me up...

A rather snooty woman stood up and yelled down the carriage (which had about 6 people in it) - THIS IS A QUIET CARRIAGE YOU KNOW....

She then sat down with a rather smug look on her face...

A bit later, we'd just come past Grantham, when HER phone rang and she answered it and was talking on Speaker phone

She got a chorus of "THIS IS A QUIET CARRIAGE YOU KNOW...." from the people in the carriage, before she got up and stomped off out of the carriage!!!

Thank you for the much needed chuckle.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Similarly I walk towards mobile phone zombies and only turn at the last second if it's obvious they won't see me (I want to make a point but I don't want to be done for assault).

Stand still, turn around, let them walk into your back - then you're their "victim" and you can moan at them as much as you want about their idiocy in walking along without watching where they're going.

 

[Krokodil]

Could we ban people from having speaker phone conversations? That's my pet peeve more than loud music.

Byelaw 7:

except with written permission from an operator no person on the railway shall, to the annoyance of any person:
sing or
use any instrument, article or equipment for the production or reproduction of sound

Seems to cover it.

 

[azt]

Byelaw 7:


Seems to cover it.

That's great, but would they care/how could you enforce this?

 

[Krokodil]

That's great, but would they care/how could you enforce this?

"Can you put some headphones in please?" works in almost all instances (both with music and with loudspeaker calls). Once or twice in the case of those playing music I've had to firmly tell them "switch it off or get off".

 

[azt]

"Can you put some headphones in please?" works in almost all instances (both with music and with loudspeaker calls). Once or twice in the case of those playing music I've had to firmly tell them "switch it off or get off".

Do you work on the railway?

I could imagine the response I would get if I said that, such as, I can do what I want, f..k off!

Society is shocking nowadays, no respect for others!

 

[PedroHav]

I recently was in a carriage where the guy behind me was having a loud phone conversation (so loud he didn't really need a phone). I turned round and he immediately glared at me and said 'what the hell are you looking at!!). I said nothing but he continued his conversation - loudly. Unfortunately for him he had to give the other guy his address ... which I copied down. A few days later he got an anonymous post card saying that when he travels on a train 'he should consider others and keep the volume down. Also don't give away personal information '

 

[azt]

I recently was in a carriage where the guy behind me was having a loud phone conversation (so loud he didn't really need a phone). I turned round and he immediately glared at me and said 'what the hell are you looking at!!). I said nothing but he continued his conversation - loudly. Unfortunately for him he had to give the other guy his address ... which I copied down. A few days later he got an anonymous post card saying that when he travels on a train 'he should consider others and keep the volume down. Also don't give away personal information '

Good one! Pity you couldn't sign him up for bound copies of Encyclopedia Britannica! (showing my age here)

Good one! Pity you couldn't sign him up for bound copies of Encyclopedia Britannica! (showing my age here)

Also, we were in China in April, travelling from Beijing to Xi'an and some other shorter journeys. There were police on each train, no trouble, the loudest noise were people snoring.

 

[Turtle]

In my observation it coincided with the move to not having a headphone socket, and thus headphones going from something you got free with a phone (or a couple of quid if you purchased some) to them being an expensive item many simply wouldn't bother with at all.

I use earbuds and have never paid more than £25/£30. Obviously not top quality rendition but good enough for all practical purposes.
At these price levels there's no excuse for creating antisocial noise.

 

[Krokodil]

Do you work on the railway?

I could imagine the response I would get if I said that, such as, I can do what I want, f..k off!

Society is shocking nowadays, no respect for others!

The second one only gets used when I'm on duty, in uniform. The first one I'll still use even when travelling for leisure.

 

[azt]

The second one only gets used when I'm on duty, in uniform. The first one I'll still use even when travelling for leisure.

I'm a little bit apprehensive to confront people, after personal experiences on buses in Dundee. One just doesn't know what they have inside there jacket or they are so thick that they can't respond in a courteous way and become hysterical and start screaming/shouting in an aggressive way.

Good on you though!

 

[bnc2018]

Maybe I’m overreacting, but in the declassified first class on a Thameslink service today, all was calm and quiet, around 20 of us sitting quietly, some using laptops or reading the news on phones or newspapers.
One person has frequent notifications pinging, with the volume up full blast.
After about the 30th one in under 5 minutes, my patience was shredded.

Normally this is the beauty of declassified Thameslink first - in the day most people don't know it's declassified and I get to sit there with a table, and then late in the evening it basically serves as a pen where all the people that vape/play music/watch TikTok generously sit, and I get to sit in the peace of the rest of the train

 

[ChilternTurbo]

I'm rather sensitive to noise and as good as my Bose noise cancelling headphones are they don't entirely drown out thongs like Tik-Tok garbage being played out loud. I did a lap of the London Superloop bus routes recently and not one journey was without the aural bombardment of tinny music and looped videos as a soundtrack.

Society is shocking nowadays, no respect for others!

Exactly this. I used to be quite 'gobby' and call people out for such behaviour but frankly it's not worth the risk of being assaulted or worse...

 

[Andrew S]

Yes I take a zero tolerance approach to that. You can either move out of the way or I'm coming through anyway (advantages of being 6' 2" and large)!

That's my way too.

I assume you mean loud passengers, but this, in its literal sense, is part of the problem. Station announcements shout over each other (and ten times worse when they're manual), and repeat more times than is strictly necessary. Dispatchers shout. On the train, more constant noise (albeit quieter), more constant announcements. It's an environment full of noise, and it only encourages antisocial noise and shouting.

I'm not trying to excuse it by any means. But the modern railway is a very loud place, and, while much of the content is necessary, the volume often isn't.

I actually agree, constant loud announcements full of unnecessary rubbish (be careful in wet weather etc) make for a constant sensory overload.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

When I saw this thread, I was expecting a tale of genuinely disruptive or intimidating behaviour... not the slight annoyance of a beeping phone. Sure it's annoying and a little inconsiderate, but letting a relatively minor irritation ruin your day is only going to wind you up. You'll find life far easier if you try to let these little things go.

But that's just me, everyone has their own way of dealing with things. I just find it easier to ignore things rather than letting them get under my skin.

 

[lachlan]

When I saw this thread, I was expecting a tale of genuinely disruptive or intimidating behaviour... not the slight annoyance of a beeping phone. Sure it's annoying and a little inconsiderate, but letting a relatively minor irritation ruin your day is only going to wind you up. You'll find life far easier if you try to let these little things go.

But that's just me, everyone has their own way of dealing with things. I just find it easier to ignore things rather than letting them get under my skin.

Some people are more sensitive to this sort of noise than others and it can be very distracting. I'd argue playing music out loud is genuinely disruptive - we're not talking beeping phones here but TikTok videos, watching TV, playing video games with the volume turned up and no headphones.

If you're able to tune out and ignore noises like that, consider yourself very lucky