Why Mobile Phones are Annoying
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox (Thanks: Slashdot) talks about a study done to determine why Mobile Phones are annoying. Of course, since they are studying something subjective, no hard answers are available, but a few things seem to get ruled out. I would suggest an additional control for further study - add a pay telephone (not in an enclosed booth) to the test subjects, and see where that rates.
I don’t know if it is Jakob’s conclusion, or the study authors’ conclusion, but they seem to feel that the one-sided conversation might be the annoyance factor. Controlling for pay-phone versus mobile would sort that out.
My personal conjecture (for what it’s worth) is this: It is not the one-sided conversation, the ring tone or the volume. It is a lower-level emotional response. I think it is either jealousy (he’s got something I don’t) or a reaction to percieved arrogance (he’s so important that his conversation couldn’t wait).
Anyhow, interesting stuff. And an interesting study methodology. If the subjects of the study actually knew they were being asked about the impact of a conversation on them, they are going to focus like a lens on that conversation, and notice nothing else around them.