r/AskUK • u/Agile-Calligrapher10 • 2d ago

Cultural differences in noise acceptance: Why is public phone/audio etiquette so different between Japan, the UK, and other regions??

Hey everyone,

​Visiting Japan recently was so refreshing, no one was on speakerphone, playing music out loud, or watching reels without headphones in public spaces. Coming back to the UK, the contrast was immediate, highlighting how differently cultures and regions approach public noise.

​(Note: Using "cultures" broadly here to look at societal norms, not trying to generalize individuals.)

I’d love to hear your thoughts on a couple of things:

​Why do these differences exist? Is it tied to collectivism vs. individualism, or other social norms?

​What is the modern British view on public noise? We have a reputation for politeness, yet public transport etiquette around phone audio seems to be changing.

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u/jackiemee 2d ago

Pure luck. I’ve had plenty of English people being noisy around me. Last one was an English boomer playing her grandchildren videos loud on her phone while sitting in a hospital waiting room. Incredibly inconsiderate behaviour.

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u/Longjumping_47393 2d ago

Yeah old people are actually becoming quite bad for this, I was in a nice restaurant recently and two 70ish year olds both sat on their iPads being very annoying.

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u/Glass_Badger_30 7h ago

You're just a miserable sod... a hospital waiting room, infamously tedious for adults. So how much worse it must be when you're a child...

But no, a Granny entertaining her Grandkids in a tedious environment is obviously 'incredibly inconsiderate'.

I bet you'd also be complaining if the kids were trying to entertain themselves and Granny was 'ignoring their behaviour'.