TRAVELLING on public transport has never been the most peaceful or comfortable way to get around.
That’s the price you pay to avoid driving and sitting in traffic, I’ve always told myself – if you’re lucky enough to get a seat, of course.
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Once upon a time, the biggest bugbear – aside from constant delays – was the sound of some self-entitled so-and-so indiscreetly chatting away on their phone.
Poor signal offered some respite but now with 4G and 5G pretty much everywhere, even on London Underground, there’s nowhere to hide from tech.
And there’s a growing menace far more annoying than phone calls.
That nuisance is people thinking it’s appropriate and fine to watch TikTok videos on their mobile without any headphones.
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And it’s not just young people guilty of this blight on my ears.
Nor is it exclusive to TikTok fans – I’ve encountered lads who think it’s fine to blast out a live football game from their handset too.
Sorry mate, not everyone wants to hear it.
But I’m not asking you to stop, just get some headphones so the rest of us don’t have to endure the noise.
It turns out I’m not the only one frustrated by this curse.
“This happened to me this week,” one commuter wrote on social media.
“The guy behind me was raging at the youth of today, turns out to be a 50+ year old wino playing the tunes.”
Another wrote: “It’s because, as a nation, we’ve been sold the idea that selfishness is best.”
Tell the ticket inspector? Perhaps not.
“I was recently on a train and the ticket inspector sat down for a considerable part of the journey and watched YouTube videos without headphones,” another user said.
Yes, I could try asking the person politely to put headphones in.
Some offenders may be blissfully unaware of the havoc they’re causing everyone else.
But there’s always a fear of how they’ll react and whether they might even get violent.
Some people blame Apple and other mobile makers for removing the old audio jack so people can’t use wired headphones anymore.
But I think that’s rubbish – if you can afford an iPhone, you can afford Bluetooth headphones, and there are plenty of dirt cheap ones around.
What’s really at play is we’ve lost our British common sense and etiquette, all because some stupid (and probably fake) prank or football goal is more important than respecting others.
Some train routes have quiet coaches.
Scrap that – why should us peaceful ones be confined to one or two coaches when we’re the silent majority?
Have a loud coach instead, so all the ones making noise can fester in a bubble of commotion – perhaps then they’ll finally realise why it’s such a pain.
