Smartphone Thoughts: More Angst On Cellphone Usage In Transit Systems

The world has never been more connected, but in some corners, it's developing a real hang-up over the ubiquitous cell phone. Taking a cue from France's national railway, which offers phone-free "zen zones" on high-speed trains, Austria's second-largest city this week began ordering public transit commuters to keep their phones on silent mode.

This is an entirely new problem that didn't seriously exist even just a few years ago. Not everyone had cellphones and those that did had relatively high charges for talk time, so you chose your calls carefully. Now, almost all adults have them and many teenagers and kids have them as well. Per minute rates are very low and some plans have more minutes in them than even the most chatty person could use in a month.

This is just one of those things where a new social etiquette will have to surface that allows people to freely speak, but also allows others to freely not hear them. I think for trains, the answer is simple. If you want to talk on the train, just ride on top.