📘 Part 3: Mobile phones

This episode's vocabulary

To do something at the touch of a button (idiom) - to do something very easily and quickly, usually because of new technology.

Limitless (adj.) - without limit.

Dexterity (noun) - the ability to perform a difficult action quickly and skillfully with the hands.

To moderate (verb) - to (cause to) become less in size, strength, or force; to reduce something.

Arthritis (noun) - a serious condition in which a person's joints (= the places where two bones are connected) become painful, swollen, and stiff.

Impractical (adj.) - impractical arrangements, ideas, or methods cannot be done or used easily or effectively.

To enforce (verb) - to make people obey a law, or to make a particular situation happen or be accepted.

Courteous (adj.) - polite and showing respect.

Contraband (noun) - goods that are brought into or taken out of the country secretly and illegally.

Nebulous (adj.) - (especially of ideas) not clear and having no form.

Discreet (adj.) - careful not to cause embarrassment or attract too much attention, especially by keeping something secret.

Crotchety (adj.) - often in a bad mood and easily annoyed.

Invasive (adj.) - moving into all areas of something and difficult to stop.

To creep in (phrasal verb) - to gradually start to be noticeable.

Irritating (adj.) - making you feel annoyed.

-

Questions and Answers

M: Rory, what do people usually do with a cell phone?

R: Well, it would probably be easier to say what you, or what they don't do with them. I mean, you can use them to do anything these days, from messaging friends to ordering food at the touch of a button like the possibilities are pretty much limitless.

M: And do you think that everybody these days has a mobile phone?

R: Well, almost everybody, I mean, you know, there will be people who are extremely poor, who don't have access to any kind of IT. But most people have access to a phone.

M: What are the differences between young and older people when they use their cell phones?

R: Well, it probably depends on the age gap we're talking about here. I mean, very young, and very old people probably, I don't know, lack the dexterity to use them effectively. So there's no difference there. If we moderate the gap a little I imagine younger people are more likely to use technology for a wider variety of purposes, because they are more likely to understand them better. And older people will probably use them for work purposes, since they're more likely to be employed.

M: Do you think that some older people are not able to use mobile phones?

R: Well, yeah, I mean, just the same way as like, there'll be some younger people who can't like maybe people with arthritis, for example, or people with no hands, or that have some sort of other disability, that means they can't type.

M: Do you think a law should stop people from using phones in public places?

R: Well, that would be highly impractical, don't you think? How on earth? Would you even enforce that? Even if you wanted to? I mean, I think I just settle for people being more courteous in public places and having their phones on silent mode.

M: Should there be any laws on the use of mobile phones in general?

R: Well, that depends on what it's with regards to. I mean, if it's the distribution of certain contraband material, then yeah. But if you mean something more nebulous and easy to abuse, then no. I mean, you'd have to be more specific. Sorry.

M: Could you give an example of a situation when mobile phones could be annoying?

R: When are they not? I mean, they constantly demand our attention. Although really, that would be the people on the other end of them. And I think we all just like being on the train when people use them to play loud music. I mean, that is unnecessary.

M: But what could be the advantages of using mobile phones in public places?

R: Well, you mean, using them to play loud music in public places? If you're on a secret mission from the government to annoy people, then yes, that would be an advantage. But like using them in public places, it could be helpful for reporting an accident, for example, or contacting your friends in a discreet way, but not for just sitting there playing music loudly. And I have been in that position before. And if you are one of these people that does that and you're listening, then do know that you are annoying all of the people around you on the train, or the bus, or the plane, or wherever you are.

M: And do you think that people should do something? They should approach this person and actually tell them like to stop using their phone?

R: Yes. Actually. And I wish I had, there was a time when that happened to me, and I wish I'd done it. And I don't know why I didn't. I think maybe I was waiting for someone else to do something. Which is ironic, because probably other people were doing the exact same thing, just waiting for someone to say something.

M: Do you think that in the future mobile phones will be even more annoying?

R: If they're near me, and I'm older and more crotchety, then yes. I mean, in general, probably. I mean, technology is becoming increasingly invasive, to be honest with you.

M: What do you think of people who speak on the phone in public?

R: Assuming it's not overly loud or inappropriate in terms of what they're talking about, I think that's fine. It's when the loudness creeps in that it gets, you know, particularly annoying or irritating. It's not difficult to control the volume of your voice.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers!

-

Discussion

M: Yeah, so it's interesting that in this speaking part three the question are about, you know, mobile phones being annoying, right? So annoying when mobile phones annoy us. When it's like oh... Yeah. And I think everybody can relate when you are on a train or on the bus somewhere. And then a person is listening to music and it's loud. Or they talk to somebody on their phone, but they're very loud. Off, off.

R: People often talk about what kind of... If they were a hero, what kind of hero they would be. I would like to be the person that founds a global movement to purge these people from the buses and the trains. That will be my contribution to society.

M: So you'd like kick anybody from the bus who speaks too loud on the phone, yeah? Okay. So first of all, we can say mobile phones or cell phones, right? So now it's pretty much the same thing. You can also say smartphones. Yeah, just smartphones. They're usually connected to the internet. Right? But mobile phones could be with buttons, right? And smartphones, we use this screen touch, yeah? Option. But some people might have button phones. And how do people usually use their cell phones? What do we do? Rory cracked a kind of a joke saying that it would be easier to say what we don't do with mobile phones. He-he.

R: Yeah, because you can do everything with them.

M: Yeah, like we can use them to do anything these days. And then you can give more examples from messaging friends, to ordering food at the touch of a button. This is a nice collocation. So we do things at the touch of a button. Touch and button. Yeah? We have buttons, and touch screen option buttons. So at the, the touch of a button. At the touch of a button, we can do anything.

R: I'm glad after our conflict over how you treat the like button on our YouTube channel that you've come around to the idea of just touching the button.

M: No, this is okay. At the touch of a button. In this collocation.

R: It's a phrase.

M: Yeah. But the touch here is a noun. So we usually press a button, or we smash the like button.

R: No. No, we don't. We treat the like button respectfully.

M: Oh, my God. Again. Premium listener, have you watched our YouTube channel? Yes, of course, you have.

R: You're paying for premium to avoid advertising. However, we're going to sit here and advertise...

M: Youtube channel and you can watch it on your mobile phone.

R: Ideally, with your earphones in so that you don't annoy all of the people around you. Or take them out and play it on loudspeaker and advertise to everybody. The irony...

M: Yeah, so people sometimes listen to music using what? Not their headphones, but they switch it to a loudspeaker, right?

R: Yes. But don't do that.

M: Yeah. What's the sentence? What do we say? They listen to music on a loudspeaker?

R: Yeah, or they switch to loudspeaker. Or they put someone on loudspeaker if they're on the phone.

M: Older people and young people using their cell phones. So you can say, well, people use cell phones in different ways. Very young people or very old people lack the dexterity to use mobile phones effectively. And now, Rory the nerd...

R: Just going to explain what dexterity is. What I really should have said is manual dexterity, which is just using your hands to complete small, complicated actions like typing, for example. But if you're like a baby, and you don't have a well-developed control over your nerves, and in the same way, if you're an older person who maybe has arthritis or problems with your joints, then that's not going to be possible.

M: Yeah. You see, here we're using precise vocabulary. Very old people lack manual dexterity. They can't use their joints. That's why you can say that old people tend to use button phones, these like old models of the phones. So huge buttons.

R: Button phone.

M: No, but really, like, grandmothers usually use such phones.

R: Really?

M: Yeah, yeah. Like not smartphones. Because, well, yeah, it's easier, when the phone has huge buttons. Younger people are more likely to use smartphones for something. Yeah, it's a nice phrase "are more likely to use technology for a wider variety of purposes". Right? So older people tend to call and I know send messages, but younger people are more likely to use technology for a wider variety of purposes. And then you can also say from playing computer games to, I don't know, learning things online, for example. Because you can kind of do everything. Pretty much everything on your mobile phone. Yeah, I think so. What can't you do on your mobile phone, Rory? Is there anything? Maybe some things are more convenient to do on a computer? Right? Because we have like a bigger screen.

R: Well, you could, maybe if you couldn't like type a book, probably on a mobile phone? I mean, that would be difficult.

M: But technically, you can type a book, right?

R: Yeah. But like that would require a great deal of patience. Unless you had a keyboard.

M: Yeah, and the small buttons. Like this.

R: That's what keyword sounds like, yes.

M: Yeah. Then young people, older people use mobile phones for work purposes. You see. So like use it for work purposes, for entertainment, for fun. So when we use phones in public places, right? So it could be highly impractical. Because you annoy everybody else.

R: Well, no, it would be impractical to stop people from doing it.

M: Ah, from, yeah, okay, okay.

R: If everybody's got a phone. It's the same with... In the 1920s, when the American government tried to ban alcohol, like, you just couldn't do it, because everybody was doing it. And then they banned it. And, and then it went underground. And people continued to do it. You know? I mean, there are some commentators who are saying, it actually, it worked quite well, but no, not really, it didn't, because here we are, and it's legal.

M: Yeah. So you can say that implementing a law to stop people from using phones in public places would be impractical. So we implement a law. Or we what? Bring in a law and then enforce something on people, right?

R: Even if you wanted to, I mean, like people, usually older people often talk about banning mobile phones, but then you're just sitting there thinking, and who will like, you know, you're saying that because you're angry, but really, you probably don't want to. Like, think about the consequences that that would have for the world.

M: And then you said that people being courteous in public places. So to be courteous in public places.

R: Or courteous.

M: Courteous?

R: It looks like courteous, but it's courteous.

M: Courteous. What is it?

R: Courteous. Although I suppose you could maybe if you're enunciating it. And you could say that, but when you're speaking, quickly, courteous. When you're courteous, it's when you're polite.

M: Yeah, polite to people around you. Follow the social norms and have your phone on silent, right? Or I can say, switch your phone to the silent mode. Yeah?

R: Switch your phone to silent or prepare to die.

M: Yeah. What does it mean, if something is nebulous?

R: If something is nebulous, it's poorly defined. So and a lot of laws this way are written so they're easy to abuse, because they're poorly defined. And governments exploit this. If you specifically banned people from having a specific app on their phone, like that is very precise, because it's clear what's banned, whatever it is. But if you were just to say like, oh, you're banned from sending rude messages on phones. Well, who decides what rude is? Like that's not fair.

M: Yeah.

R: And actually, it's funny because we have a law like this in Scotland, and it gets abused all the time by the police and the government.

M: Really? So what is the law?

R: Well, I think it's actually the UK law. It's the Malicious Communications Act. I think it's 2002.

M: Really?

R: I think it's phrased, it's worded like it bans you from causing upset using a mobile communications device.

M: Oh, wow.

R: But what that really like, that just means... Because we know comedians get in trouble for making statements that are supposed to be funny, and people get offended. And they're like, well, that was deliberately done to abuse me. And it's like, no, you just don't get the joke. So don't worry about it. It's fine. No one's coming after you. But instead, they call the police. And you can be fined or sent to prison.

M: So you can say here that laws on using mobile phones should be specific. If the government banned a certain application, that could be fine. Right? But if the laws are nebulous, if the laws are too generic, so it's easy to abuse the laws.

R: Yes, although like I say, it's funny because like some apps are banned, but you'd have to find the people first. Like VPNs are banned in China for example. But if you have a VPN then they can't find you. It's like you'd have to catch me first.

M: Yeah, it's crazy. We can also use our phones to report an accident. Right? So when this is like how we use them in a useful way, and also we can say like mobile phones are irritating, they're annoying. They demand our attention. So they ask for our attention. People play loud music.

R: And then good pronunciation, that is unnecessary.

M: Yeah. Yeah. You stress "is". That is unnecessary. Yeah, or the music could be overly loud, overly loud, so like super loud, too loud. So the loudness like creeps you out or the loudness creeps?

R: Well, there's no loudness creeping in right now. Despite the factors of storm happening, however, loudness creeps in. So you can be creeped out by something. But that's describing your feelings. If something creeps in it just means like slowly, slowly, it gets bigger and bigger. Or worse and worse.

M: Yeah, somebody's playing music too loud. And then like the loudness creeps in and it gets annoying. You get annoyed and it gets annoying. Sweet. Thank you very much for listening! Dear listener, we're sending you hugs and love!

R: Oh, my God. We never covered my conditional sentence.

M: Oh, what are the conditionals? Tell us, Rory. You're now good at conditionals, I see.

R: Well, I said I wish I'd done something. That's not a conditional, is it? Anyway, but you're gonna tell me it's amazing and for some reason related to grammar.

M: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And did you say I wished I'd done it or I wish I'd done it.

R: I wish I'd done it.

M: I wish I'd done it. So Rory told us about a situation in the past when somebody played loud music, and Rory didn't like it. And Rory didn't approach this person and didn't say anything. He remained passive. But aggressive. So I wish I'd told this person something but Rory didn't, right? So that's why I wish I had done it. I wish I had told this person to switch off their phone. Hey, sugar, switch off your phone!

R: Well, there were two of them. They were both rather large women. I don't think English was their first language.

M: Oh, I see.

R: But I just wished that I'd said something. And I, because I don't usually shy away from expressing my opinion. But this time I did. And I have no idea why. Maybe I just wanted an easy life.

M: Yeah. So see, if you didn't do something, but you wanted to do something. And now you have this regret. I wish I'd done something.

R: I wish I told those women what for.

M: Thank you very much for listening! Hugs and love!

R: Remember to keep your phone on silent in public places and be courteous to those around you. Bye!

M: Bye! Bye-bye-bye!

-

Make sure to subscribe to our social media to see some of the “behind the scenes” stuff:

Our Instagram: bit.ly/instagramswi

Our Telegram: bit.ly/telegramswi