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/MMBitey]

"I don't get why other people find it so annoying. I use it all the time!"

[u/Okeydokey2u → u/MMBitey]

It'S jUsT nOiSe

[u/DigitalSheikh → u/MMBitey]

I mean, I don’t do it myself, but now I’m wondering what the big issue is. Is it really different from two people having a conversation with each other in public? Like I don’t like speakerphone either, just now that I think about it I can’t figure out why

[u/Jazzguitar19 → u/DigitalSheikh]

Someone was doing it while I was eating last night and I was analyzing what about it drove me crazy lol. I think just the volume being a lot louder than a normal convo but the sound quality being terrible was the two factors that were driving me insane.

[u/Okeydokey2u → u/DigitalSheikh]

If tell people were talking loudly broadcasting their conversation like a speaker phone does then they too would be obnoxious, annoying and rude.

[u/Lucky-day00 → u/DigitalSheikh]

Yes because it’s more tinny and cuts through background noise in a way a real voice doesn’t.