Rant: Kids listening to mobile music through the handset speakers!

Yes it’s been some years since we saw the infamous Ghettoblaster being carried about – apart from the occasional group of disenfranchised youths sat on steps listening to one, it’s very rare we see them. Much more common is the generic “boy-racer” who has pimped his Fiesta to have a “sound system” (I believe youngsters are calling it In-Car Enterntainment these days….), and so is blaring out tracks as he crawls by….

…. but now there is a new menace – this one isn’t carrying a 400kg boombox, or “rolling on dubs” (not that you could get 20″ alloys on a Fiesta!), but instead he/she is on foot. And their weapon of choice – you got it – the Mobile!

Given the preponderance of Mobile devices with at least a reasonable speaker housed in them, it is now not uncommon to see a teenager wandering around with a tinny version of some UK Grime star’s latest track echoing out of their phone. The phones are typically carried in the hand – far enough away from the owner’s ears to save them from going deaf, but close enough to the rest of the world to annoy the living hell out of us!

I suppose I shouldn’t complain – a percentage of this music has been downloaded from Operators, service providers and suchlike – however, it’s got to the point where the attitude that comes along with these Mobile-carrying youths has gotten to be a bad one. A really bad one.

First of all there is the selfishness/lack of consideration that others may not want to listen to their “music”, and the secondly the fact when confronted about it, the first two words out of their mouths usually begin with “F” and “O”! I wonder whether in fact I am alone in noticing this, and, whether this is occuring to such an extent in other countries….

… so come on IntoMobile readers – let us know which country you are living in, and what your experiences of this heinous trend are….

[Ghettoblaster image via: pocketcalculatorshow.com]

About The Author

Ben Robinson

Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.

James Burland

Yep, I can confirm that down on the South coast of England the kids are lovingly sharing their gangster rap and indian trance with me.

Just yesterday, two Stella wielding chavs shared their music via their SE phones and proceeded to loudly rap over the top of them – it was widely entertaining and I simply begged them not to stop this most enjoyable impromptu concert!

Sadly they had to get off at the next stop.
matthew bennett

Heh, maybe it’s not just kids? I *rock* my N95 blasting the newest/latest while walking around San Francisco and while skateboarding at skateparks. I keep it in my front pocket, which apparently confuses others. They hear it, they look around, they look at you, they look around, it just doesn’t make sense to them.

Hey, just watch I’ma Get You Sucka when they say, “Every hero needs his own theme song”. Right now mine’s The Grouch – Show you the World.
bob

yep, walking all around birmingham with their phones in their hand, and i find it as annoying as you. If it ever happens on a bus or train to me ill simply blast something awful out fo my N95 back at them, the Moby Nokia tune maybe
Will Park

Dude, I just recently got trapped in an elevator with some teenager rocking tunes on his Sidekick. He had the Sidekick in his shirt pocket and had the volume turned all the way up.
Timmy

I agree with you. Kids these days are spoiled rude and loud mouthed. Just the other day I was sitting on the bus next to a teenager with his cellphone turned very loudly to some “music.” The fact that everyone was bothered by the noise wasn’t enough, the teenager actually put up his feet on the seats across him so that other people weren’t able to sit down.
acheron

I agree with you man, i live in venezuela and this is a common trend… the thing is that is almost inevitable to run into this kind of people here, worst of all, usually the noise (because that can’t be called music) they play the most is reggaeton :@ i always wonder if they haven’t heard of headphones before… sadly, you can’t tell them anything, because instead of getting a F*** O**, you may be getting shot O_o
so true

I couldn’t agree more! I fall into the generation your referring to but I still find it infuriating when some dude thinks its absolutely necessary to play some crap song on full blast out of a poor quality phone speaker. With the volume turned up, the song playing is almost indecipherable. I see it much to often on buses and trains here in Melbourne Australia. Its one of my biggest annoyances. For gods sake get some headphones. The situation is even more bewildering when the person is by themselves. The only time i did it was when my iPod battery ran out once while walking home
Jay

I’m 25 and I live in Israel, a few weeks ago I almost got into a fight with a 17 year-old over this exact issue during a bus ride- it’s gotton pretty bad in Israel. There is even a Facebook group in Israel called “death sentence to people who play music from their cellphones in public”. It’s intresting to note that most of these kids here are from poor economic background – being a University student we automatically join this group, meaning a lot more enjoyable rides in a bus listening to trance, arabic-inspired pop music and crappy MTV-style pop.
Ben

Wow!

So far we have numerous locations in the UK, USA, Venezuela, Australia, and Israel, all suffering the same indignation at this new mobile menace!

Interestingly, only Mathew comes to the defence of those playing tunes from their Mobiles – and to him I would say that whilst every hero may need a theme tune, not all the rest of us normal-folk need to hear it – if part of the human anatomy was a mute button, you might find you would have been “pressed” several times by now

I think I’ll write a follow-up piece on this, given the strength of feeling on the topic – it might revolve around the top 10 ways to silence these irksome few – so get your thinking caps on

Ben