The speakerphone paradox

[u/NeighborhoodJust1197]

I was at the pool today when a woman started having a conversation on her phone using the speaker.

I politely asked her if she could not use the speaker and pointed to my headphones.
She said, “I don’t have headphones.”
So I said, “You can just hold the phone next to your ear.”

She looked at me with a completely blank expression and said, “I’m on speakerphone.”
I said, “Well… that’s the problem.”

Apparently, we had reached the limits of modern technology.

[u/jbjhill]

If it’s at normal conversational levels, like two people sitting next to each other gabbing, I’m way more ok with it. The problem is that it’s NEVER at that level.

[u/jimkurth81 → u/jbjhill]

Exactly my comment was stating. People belt their voices out so loudly when they’re holding the phone 12 inches away from their mouth. Regular conversation levels are fine, I agree. But I’ve never witnessed people chatting on speaker phone with their normal talking voice

[u/Krethlaine → u/jimkurth81]

If my stepmother is having a normal conversation, I usually can’t hear her from across the house. If she’s on the phone, it’s as though we’re in the same room.

[u/MeowRawrUwu → u/Krethlaine]

My grandmother said she yells through the phone “because you’re so far away” and it killed me