1. Cellphonesas a Modern Irritant
Edited Version
By Douglas Quenqua; March 13, 2013 5:12pm
Edited by Hannah Joy Stacy;November 19, 2015 11:57am
Focusing on a personal task while in public can easily becomeimpossible as
certain individuals chooseto make their public cellphone calls known to the
irritated strangers around them. Research proves that an individual publically
talking on a cellphone is scientifically proven to be more distracting than an actual
conversation between two individuals.
Such information was discovered in a recent casestudy performed at the
University of San Diego where students were asked to complete anagrams while a
nearby theater professorwas talking on their cellphone. The results showed that
instead of finishing the task, students were more likely to remember details of the
conversation and those who actually finished the anagram were exposed to an
actual one-on-one conversation. Such results prove to be mounting evidence in
disabling the temporary cognitive functioning of bystanders in today’s
technologically progressing society.
Veronica V. Galvan and lead researcher in the study states that in
overhearing an unwanted cellphone conversation can be translated as the brain’s
innate desire to “fill in the blanks” of everyday routine. Galvan and her colleagues
reported that individuals trapped among one-sided conversations; otherwise known
as ‘halfologues’, result in an unintentional need for control considering the
person’s inability to leave the situation which often occurs in densely-populated
locations such as public transportation arenas.

2. Daily commuter and marketing executive Geoff Hunting can easily relate to
the topic by mentioning that attempting to read, work or even relax becomes
extremely hard to do when exposed to a random cellphone discussionon his daily
commuter train in Connecticut. Hunting finds the occasional intoxicated Yankee
fan returning home on the same train to be less annoying than someone talking on
a cellphone by stating “It’s not even a conversation- it’s just noise.”
In 2010, a similar case study was performed by students attending Cornell
University under the leadership of Laura Emberson. In this case study, the students
were aware of the sourceof distraction and still found difficulty in performing
basic tasks. Emberson mentions “the brain simply cannot ignore a stream of new
information” and additionally states that brains are “set-up to focus on the
unexpected” and when overhearing a one-sided cellphone conversation; every
word becomes an unwanted surprise which forces the brain to assume the role of
predicting the remaining dialogue of the personon the phone.
Many individuals incorrectly assume that such a distraction depends on the
volume level of the conversation and the location where it is taking place;
however, a 2004 study conducted in Great Britain shows that no matter the volume
level of one-sided cellphone conversation will continue to prove a greater
distraction to participants than the exact same volume of two people conversing at
the same level of sound. Cornell’s Dr. Emberson explains that when a personstares
at a light, it can suddenly appear brighter than before similar to the fact that
hearing an un-wanted noise may actually sound much louder than had they chosen
to be a willing part of the conversation.
Despite all former research and studies on the topic, there was a drastic
difference in the topic’s national reports. Initially conducted in 2006; 84 percent of
Americans admitted to one-sided cellular conversations being one of the highest

3. ranking forms of pet peeves whereas in 2016 that figure decreased to only 74
percent.
Ultimately, society is beginning to realize the annoyances of holding public
cellphone conversations; and have now adapted common societal forms of
courtesy in refraining from taking phone calls in densely populated and obvious
places where it is no longer properto include strangers in such personal
conversation.