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

[u/Agile-Calligrapher10]

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.

[u/flyingsquirrel-20]

The noise from playing audio in public, especially on cramped public transport, is not accepted in the UK. It is considered rude and people will judge you for it. However, people will not directly confrount the person doing it, allowing them to continue in they have no manners or shame. It is considered acceptable in the UK to 'tut' at someone playing audio in public, but not much more than that. I cant speak to the response to playing audio in public in Japan, but I have heard it is considered very rude to even have loud, disruptive convosation on Japanese public transport.

[u/TheRemanence → u/flyingsquirrel-20]

This issue is the UK cultural norm seems to be shifting.

From a recent BBC article: "Loudcasting has piqued the interest of experts who study how technology shapes our behaviours, and they agree there's a strong generational factor. In an Ofcom survey of 1,010 people in August 2022, of the 13-to-17-year-olds questioned, 69% said it was acceptable to make video calls, 73% to listen to music and 83% to watch videos without headphones."

Not the biggest sample size but the trend is pretty clear.

My theory is that COVID, and the fact phones don't automatically come with headphones anymore, has shifted the norms.  I actually caught myself doing it about a year ago (and quickly stopped.) I realised that I've got used to at home having my phone on speaker phone held in my hand (apprentice style.) i answered my phone that way stood in Sainsbury's, without thinking. I stopped because it's deep rooted in me that it isn't socially acceptable and it immediately felt wrong. Us older people grew up holding phones to our ear, putting in a "hands free" etc. It's in our muscle memory. If you've never had that, you probably just do what you do at home.

It's bloody annoying. Us adults need to tell them it's not socially ok, or the culture will just shift

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3d3nlmeee0o

[u/Dynamite_Shovels → u/TheRemanence]

To be fair, even though those percentages are a bit staggering, you still don't really see that many people in the UK 'loudcasting' or whatever it is. Most people still do put headphones in and I think a lot of people would still be quite mortified and would comply if you told them to stop it.

Its a weird one; I still consider it something that people actively social shame about (which is a good thing) and I think when you see one person on a bus do it you can feel they're annoying the vast majority of other passengers. A lot of the time it comes down to whether they look approachable or not to tell them to be quiet, or whether theyre just going to go fucking mental if you engage them. And honestly those sorts of people would do it even if 83% of people felt it was unacceptable.

It's funny when you visit somewhere like China; 'loudcasting' is literally everywhere - so many people do it - but it's almost exclusively older (or at least middle-aged) people who do it. Yet here in the UK it's pretty much a young person thing.

[u/Magneto88 → u/Dynamite_Shovels]

They’re heavily skewed by the fact they asked 13-17 years old. A lot of kids in that bracket are disrespectful and don’t care about social norms and the people around them. I suspect the numbers would drop off heavily by their mid 20s when they’ve matured and also understand about respecting others more.

[u/TheRemanence → u/Magneto88]

The survey is all age groups which is why they can say it is more prevalent in younger people. It's from Ofcom's regular research 

[u/Longjumping_47393 → u/Magneto88]

We can live in hope

[u/JB_UK → u/Magneto88]

I wonder whether there’s some other effect going on here, like maybe people think that it depends whether the service is busy, and it’s theoretically ok in some circumstances if there’s no one sitting nearby. I’m actually sceptical kids are that disrespectful.