I have just spent a week at Temple University Hospital sitting in numerous waiting rooms for numerous hours with many people for a family member. It is clear to me that many people don’t seem to know simple cell phone etiquette rules. And unfortunately it seems that the main etiquette offenders are senior citizens.
Here’s my simple and easy list to follow to help you be cell phone-friendly to others around you.
Playing a game? if you’re in a group setting in a waiting room please turn off the sound so people in the waiting room around you do not have to listen to bells and whistles as you make a score for hours on end.
Want to give your family members an update? Please don’t Facetime and have the volume up so that everyone in the waiting room can hear your personal conversation. Instead, step out in the hallway or into a private space so that everyone around you is not hearing the medical conditions that your family member is being treated for.
If your phone rings, please answer it, or click the mute button. Don’t just let it ring and ring and ring while everyone in the waiting room is looking around to see who’s phone will not stop ringing. Just quickly refuse the call.
Before you even sit in the waiting room for hours, consider turning the volume down on your ringer and on all your notifications so that your phone is not making a constant stream of noise of bells and dings or twinkles or boncs when you’re receiving a billion text messages, emails or notifications.
Consider these simple etiquette rules to help others around you be able to tolerate the time that they too have to spend in a hospital waiting room.