3 Public Places Where Californians Wish Speakerphone Calls Would Disappear

A stranger’s speakerphone call gets nothing more than a dirty look almost anywhere in the country.

California decided that’s not enough.

The state put a rule against it in writing, more than once.

These are the public places where Californians wish speakerphone calls would disappear altogether.

1. Your City Bus or Trolley

Your bus or the San Diego Trolley might already carry an unwritten rule about phone calls.

San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit System surveyed 200 bus and trolley riders and operators about what bugs them most.

Volume on board came back the runaway winner, with six in ten naming loud music or a loud phone call as their top complaint.

Los Angeles Metro’s rules cut just as close to the bone.

Its code of conduct singles out unnecessary cell phone conversation as a nuisance loud enough to break the rules, right alongside music blasted without headphones.

2. Public Library

The Los Angeles Public Library spells out the phone problem in its official rulebook.

Its Rules of Conduct, adopted by the library’s Board of Library Commissioners, prohibit cell phone noise that disturbs other patrons or staff.

The same section covers loud pagers and headphones playing out loud, too.

It’s an actual rule.

Break it enough times and the library can suspend a patron’s card and their access to every branch, not just the one they were sitting in.

Seventy-three branches across Los Angeles answer to that same page of rules, from the Downtown Central Library down to the smallest neighborhood reading room.

3. Airport's Reflection Room

San Francisco International Airport's Reflection Room is a rare place where a speakerphone call can't follow you in.

The Berman Reflection Room sits pre-security in the international terminal, and the airport's description calls it a space free of technology, talking, and noise.

No exceptions.

Phone calls are only one of several sounds barred at the door, alongside music and ordinary conversation.

Step inside, and the speakerphone problem disappears completely, at least for as long as you stay.

The Science Behind the Annoyance

Scientists have an actual explanation for why a stranger's half of a phone call is so much harder to tune out than two people talking near you.

Cornell psychologist Lauren Emberson coined the word halfalogue for exactly this kind of overheard call.

Her research found people did measurably worse on focus tasks while overhearing just one side of a conversation than while hearing both sides, or neither.

Your brain can predict a normal back-and-forth conversation.

Your ears aren't broken.

It's the missing half of somebody else's call that your brain can't predict.

That gap makes your brain keep reaching for the rest, and the reaching is a big part of the actual annoyance.

Pew Research found nearly eight in ten Americans run into loud or annoying phone behavior in public at least occasionally.

More than half say they've overheard a stranger's intimate details the same way.

None of that is unique to California.

How the Rules Compare

California's rules against a speakerphone call don't come in just one form.

No two look alike.

San Diego's Metropolitan Transit System has only a rider survey behind its complaint, with no fine attached to it.

Los Angeles Metro backs its version with an actual citation and a dollar amount.

The Los Angeles Public Library enforces its rule by pulling a library card instead of writing a ticket.

San Francisco International Airport skips enforcement altogether and simply builds a room the problem can't enter.

The Courtroom Ban

California courtrooms don't leave phone etiquette to a survey or a posted request.

The Judicial Branch of California states that jurors can't use cellular phones, computers, or cameras in the courtroom.

The devices may not be allowed inside at all, even shut off.

Off doesn't count.

Step outside the actual courtroom into the jury assembly room, and the rule loosens enough to let a juror hold a phone again.