Nokia’s new user guide for its phones has some helpful hints for how to use your phone responsibly — with a twist.
In the pamphlet, the handset giant also advises its customers to switch off their phones and forget about work for the weekend if they want to live longer.
Those in need of cellphone etiquette guidance or lifestyle tips could also turn to Nokia: “If you use your mobile phone in a fast-food restaurant, keep your voice down so you won’t annoy people. And order a salad … Quit smoking. Drink less.”
Of course, primers on the etiquette required by a new technology are nothing new. 150 years ago, first-time rail travelers were expected to know how to behave in this new mileau, confronted by more people, of a wider assortment than they had ever seen, in cramped quarters.
There were codes of conduct for things you don’t do on the railroad, like talking in a loud voice, or singing or spitting, things that would annoy other passengers. There was an explosion of etiquette books. Everyone suddenly wanted to know how to behave, because somehow being pushed together with strangers like that for the first time created in people a need to figure out how to get along with these strangers.
[Posted with ecto]