Rant follow-up: Anti-social kids, teenagers, and adults with their mobile ghetto blasters….
By Ben Robinson on Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 1:53 PM PST In Ideas and rants
Recently I posted on a growing menace in our society – namely that of anti-social ‘people’, who think it’s acceptable to blast out their ‘fave choonz’ from the speaker on their mobile handset, whilst walking/riding/sloping/grunting along in public.
I was surprised to find out that this isn’t just a UK phenomenon, oh no… my post attracted comments from the following global locations:
- South Coast (of the UK)
- West Coast (of the US!)
- Venezuela
- Australia
- Israel
… and I’m sure there are many more.
Just the other day, I was returning home from a day in London, only to spend ten infuriating minutes in the same train carriage with a group of incredibly rude teenagers- behaviour included:
- Verbally abusing female passers-by
- Treating the seats like a climbing frame
- Swearing (every other word)
- Fighting (with each other)
- Shouting along to a rap song that was playing out of one of the perpetrators’ handsets
This dovetails neatly in to my ‘million-dollar question’ for the IntoMobile readers:
What do we do about this growing menace….?
Comments are welcome …. unfortunately those involving the application of physical violence won’t be acceptable. Probably.



i think the most plausible solution would be that the respective authorities pass on a legislation prohibiting this “sonic pollution” but i don’t see this become a reality soon… although i’d be fun to have an app like BTerror to mess around with their handsets! let’s face it, these people are unlikely to be power users and they’d be like WTF O_o?? they wouldn’t know what hit them XD
in spain most people that go with their phones playin music real loud that the whole bus can listen to (usually it’s crap music…) are from Romania and south america, and some spanish people of the poorest suburbs too
and they just makes me wanna punch them in the face, why do i need to listen to their music ???
what are the headphones for ??
sometimes i just wish they had never ever put the mp3 technology on the cellphone world
Nothing can be done, it’s just part of being young, it’s about showing off to your mates, bucking authority and the like.
I’ve commuted by train 2 hours a day for the last 15 years, I’ve only come to blows once and even then it was only very minor, and after being trapped on a train in the dark with the buffet carriage on fire!!
My best advice is to move, if abusive kids sit in your vicinity, get up and move to another carriage. You’ll be tempted to ride it out, you’ll be slightly embarrassed because no one else around you will move, but it’s just about the best thing you can do.
Wow..
You should move out here to Canada, people are much more polite.
Personally, I would take it until I snapped and then beat the Sh*t out of all of them! muhahaha
It’s sad but true
i like to keep one awful tune on my phone and play it super loud over the top of their music. It works becuae my N95 is louder than most other phones and it seems that ‘in the air tonight’ by phil collins really annoys them.
Its a growing menace alright, but who are responsible? The Parents… They need to be arrested first. Now-a-days parents are not teaching ethics to their children.
That happens in India also… Parents groom their children with loads of money and stuff that the kids dont understand how hard life is…
The best way to keep out of all this is to get divine advices from the Bible…. Really helps…
It’s funny Ajit, how people blame it all on parents alone, atleast in India, and I know u r an India, as I am. Is sad, but funny.
I am from lil town called Shimla, showing off, being fashionable and roaming on off hours on Mall is so IN out here, it’s been like that ever since. Sadly kids today think that listening to uber-stupid songs on their $120 phone is being sexy.
But i think scene out here is pretty good, they wont misbehave at any cost with females, atleast in my town. because people are quick to on handling such situations out here
I just play the “mosquito ringtone” on maximum volume. At least I think I’m playing it, I can’t hear it!
@Nishant
Dude, I totally agree w/ you. I plan on giving my kids a good wack when they deserve it. (But I don’t plan on having children for at least 10 years)
Ever notice when you go to a white family’s home the kids are all rebellious and disrespectful. But when you go to an brown kids house everyone is very polite.
Beating your children is the answer!
There is nothing more natural than wanting to kick these people in the ass when they do that.
But in real life there is nothing you can do(legally they’re clean. morally- that’s a different story..). The only thing you can do is ignore – I recommend noise-isolating earphones..
If you can’t beat them and you definitely don’t want to join them – then all you can do is ignore them!
F*cK that Sh*t!
Tell them to shut them off or you’ll smash their phones on their faces!!