Job Discussion Forums

[Black_Beer_Man]

This is not a Japanese habit, but I see it all the time here too. I think it is one of the most ignorant habits of out time.

For one thing, it's dangerous. You could easily trip on something and fall or walk right into someone.

I am wondering why can't people put the phone away for a few minutes and pay attention to where they're going?

Do they really hate the outside world so much? Are the trees and blue sky such an eyesore? Does the sound of birds chirping sound like nails on the chalkboard to them?

Are they going to die if they see their friend's message 5 minutes later?

Can anybody please give me an intelligent justification for such behavior?

[Pitarou]

I think you'll get a better answer to these kinds of questions at Quora.

[Shonai Ben]

I also noticed on the subway now that almost everyone is using their cell phone or playing some sort of game.
No one seems to talk anymore or even pay attention to what is going on around them.
Just an observation on my part.Guess it's a sign of the times.

[Maitoshi]

Of course I know why! Everyone is checking for responses to their threads on Dave's ESL Cafe 😉

[Pitarou]

[rxk22]

Got me, that and wearing ear phones all the time is not a good idea imho. You need some situational awareness, and without being able to hear, you can leave your self open to being hit from behind by a car, bike or a robber. Just seems unnecessary to me.

[Cool Teacher]

Ok! Hands up who's reading this now while walking???

[RM1983]

It's a new addiction isnt it?

One of my first memories of being here is watching a station employee retrieve a woman's iphone when she dropped it getting off the train.

Now Im always swerving people who are using their phones, to be honest ive sort of stopped though and i just walk right into them, no apologies. My gf shouts at them which is funny. Honestly though, in Tokyo you have some of the busiest stations in the world and people will walk right through the middle of that shiz without taking their eyes off Line.

Dont see how anyone could complain about using them onthe trains though. Without them it wouldnt exactly be a jovial atmosphere.

Edit - actually I think I read somewhere that Japan were considering a campaign against people using their phones when walking. Anyone heard about this?

[ssjup81]

I pretend to be staring or reading something on my phone or just pretending to mess with it so that people won't bother talking to me when I don't feel like being bothered. If I'm walking, there's no need for me to look at my phone, as I'm usually listening to music or something. I only need to look to skip to the next song.

[kah5217]

I would do the nose to phone ritual to fend off the creeps. Usually they were just people wanting to try talking to the gaijin, but sometimes it was men hitting me up.

[ZennoSaji]

I do it cuz I'm fortunate enough to have night owl friends back home who are awake while I'm walking home from work, so I text them while I walk. Even with earphones, though, I have fine situation awareness, as I make use of this handy thing called peripheral vision O____O

I realize I'm possibly an exception.

[fat_chris]

I know this is the Japan boards, but here in the China about an hour ago, I stopped a pickpocketing in progress.

The gal was on her phone oblivious to her surroundings and this dude got right behind her and was fishing around in her bag. I saw it all and she wouldn't have known what was happening unless I had yelled, foiling the perp's plan.

He would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for this meddling kid.

After that was all said and done...she got right back on her phone and put herself back into oblivious mode.

Ah well, I hope I have at least a few good karma points headed my way.

I, too, hand out shoulder checks to the groups walking four abreast down the sidewalk, all with noses in their phones, and leaving me nowhere to go. I'll be damned if Imma gonna walk in the grass to get out of their way--nope, not gonna do it.

Warm regards,
fat_chris

[Cool Teacher]