Posted by austinallegro 10/30/2025
But when some asshole on the bus is yammering his sex life at high volumes, I think we've swung too far in the other direction. There's a time and place for public shaming, and being on a commute-time bus meets those requirements.
Obvious /s
And I suppose that’s neat for hypothesis generation but I think a few minutes thought could come up with all of these. Perhaps next time I will try to politely ask. Wish me luck. Hope I don’t get stabbed.
Here’s my extra hypothesis: some people actually don’t know what’s going on - they stop at the top of the escalator and look around; they stand in the middle of the aisle with their shopping cart blocking it; and they don’t have a clue that the TV volume is high
0. From TFA: In the UK, the Liberal Democrats proposed legislation that would make playing content out loud a fineable offence of up to £1,000.
I don't understand how can you even think this is ever acceptable.
However, same as the 54% mentioned in the article I won't ask them, but for a different reason: noise canceling headphones means unless someone is playing a concert, it won't bother me.
As long as you talk at an appropriate level, there is no need to feel bad.
I mean, a couple of people and I are in this situation, more or less. Corded headphones were cheaper, didn't require pairing and didn't have rechargeable batteries; they either worked fine or didn't work.
Your point about corded headphones being cheaper could mean that this is just a result of poorer people using public transit
But the sharp, piercing tone of tin(n)y (and somehow super-amplified) phone speakers, playing particularly grating videos or loud video calls, all at max volume, seems optimized for maximum irritation. And it's often adults, who presumably would not usually shout but are nonetheless talking very loudly into their max volume facetime calls.
I would probably find it annoying if everyone walked around listening to sports games on small radios, but it is a rare occurrence so I tend to be more surprised that sports radio (not to mention AM radio itself) still exists.