Remember when displaying bad manners meant just putting your elbows on the dining table? Today, with all of our mobile devices, we can be rude anywhere at any time.

My bet is, youll agree that some of these mobile missteps make you want to slap the perpetrators upside the head. Let's count some of the ways.

Heres the epitome of arrogance: people who talk on the phone or tap out text messages while they check out at the grocery store or pay at a drive-through. They make the cashier wait, and hold up the line.

A question for these folks: Are you really so self-absorbed that you don't feel the cold stares from everyone around you?

If youre close to checkout, hold off taking or making that call, or initiating a chat. It can wait 2 minutes.

Its difficult to explain whats so annoying about watching someone simultaneously walk and text-message or email. Teenagers are notorious for doing this--heck, the other day I even spotted a young man riding a bike while texting. And you've probably seen this unfortunate episode:

When youre heads-down to such a degree that you cant even get from the car into a store without tapping away, something is wrong with your idea of being plugged in to the digital world. Get real--as in, lift your head, put down your phone, and notice how the weather is, or what the people around you are doing. The physical world can be interesting, if you can stash your device away long enough to notice it.

One of my friends is into psychology, speaks four languages, and is a user experience designer for a logistics software company. In short, hes a brilliant guy who knows a thing or two about how the brain works. For him, its a major offense when people around him are playing games on mobile devices with full speaker sound. Its even worse when its a game that I play privately, because it triggers a reflexive cognitive response that I am unable to filter out, unlike most sounds, he says.

I dont know much about cognitive reflexes, but I definitely consider it audio pollution when my teenage son cranks up the volume to watch YouTube skateboarding videos on the family iPad--the music and the sound of boards crashing onto sidewalks irritates me.

Be cognizant that others around you probably dont appreciate the sounds emanating from your phone or tablet.

Continued here:

Mind Your Mobile Manners: Top 10 On-the-Go Blunders