Etiquette while commuting on public trasport

Allow me a rant because this ^ is just a symptom of a wider social problem that were having right now.

The Gen Z are the worst, but it seems to be happening with older people too (30s) who I guess are millennials? o I I'm not quite there yet but not young enough to be a Zoomer so I dunno what I am. With the younger ones, they are blasting music full volume on their phones on DART and Intercity trains, totally oblivious to other people, sometimes with others but even if they are alone (have they never heard of earphones). Music does not even sound good blasting with edgy scratchy 'on speaker' mode anyway it sounds much better in earphones so WTF?

Then there is this having a convo full bore on speaker so everyone can hear you, it would annoy me greatly if someone had me on full speaker on the other end.

It's one of a number of recent trends I've seen that disturb me. I noticed the number of people actually READING (on a tablet or a paper book) has plummeted on public transport. In particular with kids and teenagers, I used to read books all the time on trains and busses, and I still do, but now I can see everyone from 12-35 scrolling endlessly through tik tock just waiting for that temporary dopamine hit from discovering something mildly interesting. According to a friend of mine whos' teaching secondary school the attention span of the kids has started to nosedive. If they are confronted with anything longer than a paragraph or two they can't handle it. Instead of reading about a topic they'll look for youtube or tick tock videos explaining it (and you can imagine how much of that is reliable information)

Putting this together with other trends I've noticed (in fitness, attitudes towards mental health etc) I think Generation Z is going to split in two as they get older into two groups:

1. Who works out and eats right, reads books, tries to self improve, values time and uses it well instead of wasting large amounts of it on frivolous bs, sees their mental health/emotions as something they can control not something that controls and dominates THEM, recognises the difference between normal ups and downs and mental health problems, never touches their phone during meals or other times they need to focus, recognises that every right they have comes with a duty towards others in society that it's not all about them them them. Is capable of delayed gratification so thinks strategically about their life, what do I want in the long term and what will it take to get me there etc

2. Never work out (see a fit body as 'unobtainable' or worse 'toxic') so piles on weight as they get older, never reads books or anything longer than a page, pathologizes every normal life stressor as if it's a mental health crises, wastes (collectively ) years of their life in front of screens chasing game scores or the latest dopamine hit from funny tik tock vids, thinks self improvement is stupid, is obsessed with their rights and what is owed them with no social conscience (unless it allows them to feel self—righteous and superior to others) or consideration for others in the world. Is vaping like crazy believing the horse crap that it's safe (as opposed to safer, possibly, than cigs IF you are trying to get off cigs) and will be totally SHOCKED in 20 years when it comes out that it's full of sh1t that damages their body that the companies kept secret. Is not capable of long term thinking just wants whatever makes them feel good now now now.

Group 1, which probably makes up (roughly) 1/3, is going to have far less competition than the generation that preceded them as their competition in work, socially etc is way weaker and so they're going to do great and probably have a longer happier life, they'll also make way more money. Group 2 will end up in a major MAJOR mental and physical health crises when they get to their 30s, 40's and 50s. Group 2 often gets painted as ''the youth'' but that's not fair they are not all like this, but it's a big enough chunk that it's going to come back to haunt us down the road. I've found having watched over the last few years the kid being involved in team sports in secondary school (usually) seals them into group 1, staring at a computer all day and gaming (usually) locks them into group 2, I wish parents would be aware of this a lot more.

Feet on seats, even from older people I'd hope would know better.

Yes, who can put up with the smell, except the noisy flatulence?

Like others have said people talking loudly on the phone. There was loads of them on the bus yesterday shouting loudly into their phones. They weren't Irish either. Irked me to no end.

All the above .

Why I walk or cycle where possible .

Has its drawbacks too but won't go there now .

I like my car. Comfy seat. No other people.

I'm reading all these problems and just thinking... man I love driving

I always do the same.

It generally involves both of us sitting really uncomfortably for a few minutes before the light bulb comes on.

All of this is why I avoid public transport whenever possible. Yet it's supposedly something that more people should willingly use?

Like everything else in this country there's little to no enforcement of rules or even basic behaviours. Maybe a dedicated transport police would help?

In the meantime though I'll stick with my big comfy car - as hot/cold as I like it, my choice of music/radio or none, phone conversations I want to have (not have to endure), and no others unless I'm happy to have them there. Oh and the ability to reroute mid-journey if traffic dictates rather than plodding along between (too many) stops and all the disruption and jostling etc each time.

^^^^ Your last paragraph Paulie - wouldn't cost the earth for them!

Was on mostly full Citylink bus recently and at journey start, driver told people to mute their technological devices - and it worked

A transport police is badly needed.

They operate on many transport systems all over the world but somehow we are special and don't need them, so the Gardai tell us.

Weirdly, the guards have been OK with an Airport Police presence for many years.

People of this thread should travel on the bullet train in Japan...

The greatest experience of public transport I have ever had....

Respect, politeness and beautiful silence seems to be compulsory ...

Scum dont seem to exist in that country.....at least not as overtly as they appear here.....

Agree full, travelled on it in 2002 during the World Cup, very peaceful and congestion free apart from the day of Ireland first match in Niigata, where the Irish visitors all pilled onto the early trains, as reserve seating was a mystery to Irish Rail at that time.

Absolute narcissist scum on public transport with their phones.

Yesterday evening bad the pleasure of sitting across from a group of four adults one who for some reason felt the need to put his phone call on loud speaker.

The group all looked around retirement age and in blazers and suits. The type that would gladly look down their noses at others.

There needs to be a big campaign to nip this behaviour in the bud and introduction of quiet carriages on trains and trams.

S58 (2)

A passenger shall not use a personal stereo, mobile phone or similar device so as to be a source of annoyance to other passengers on a vehicle.

https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2019/si/273/made/en/print

Or S59 of

https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2014/si/251/made/en/print

The problem is that absolutely no effort is made to even inform of, never mind enforce the rules. A simple sign saying devices can only be used with headphones would suffice in most cases.

You can buy phone jamming products on Ebay/AliExpress etc. They're not very strong, will only Jam up to about 10 metres. But its enough if a person close to you is having a loud conversation or is watching rubbish on social media with the speaker on or has their music blaring.

Real bug bearers of mine on the trains:

People not moving down the aisles.

Bags on seats.

Not letting people off the train first before allowing people to board.

People bringing bicycles and scooters on trains.

Kids going to school on the other side of the city using public transport (catchment areas exist for a reason).

People sitting down with their legs out stretched in the standing area.

Signs don't work in Ireland where "rules are for other people, not me".

Do they block newer networks like 4G or 5G? I know they were around years ago but at the time they only jammed 2G signals.

Ah yeah, I wouldn't buy one. I just had the feeling that they wouldn't work anyway even if someone shelled out on one!

They work by jamming the phone signal, basically filling the band with white noise so that the phone and indeed all other phones cannot effectively communicate with the Cell Tower nearby.

Small hand held devices can only jam a few metres and the power required to jam is substantially higher than the power required to make a phone call for example.

The further away you move from the Jamming device the weaker its effects become (exponentially).

If I see somebody with a bag on the seat I go out of my way to ask to sit beside them.

It is generally a lack of manners across all facets of society. I'm 30 odd and anyone our generation would get a clip around the ears if we did anything ignorant. The latest generation have never been pulled into line when acting the b*llocks.

They were covering this on Newstalk one lunchtime lately and somebody stupidly said "a lot of it stems from the headphone jacks being no longer on the phone. Many many of these teens can't afford Bluetooth headphones". People like this are a massive part of the problem.

It truly is one of the many reasons so many people genuinely don't use public transport. We (the Irish) don't have the etiqette for it and many people see the comfortable, warm, silent, scumbag-free car as a real attractive option.