Cell Phone Etiquette Survey: Most Think They Follow Rules

July is Cell Phone Courtesy Month. Since cell phones have become more and more prominent in recent years, the amount of people who have offended others with their cell phone use has also increased. There are some very clear violations of cell phone etiquette. And others are a little blurrier. So what do people think are the worst violations of cell phone etiquette? And how well do people think they follow those rules?

Cell Phone Etiquette

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 83% of respondents said they are generally courteous with their cell phone use. However, just 36% of them also feel that others are generally courteous with their cell phone use. So it seems that there might be some discrepancies between what people think constitutes proper cell phone etiquette.

Breaking Rules

More specifically, 78% of respondents think that speaking loudly on the phone or using speakerphone in public is rude. 71% think it’s rude to use cell phones to take pictures of people without their permission. 69% think it’s rude for people to use their phones while driving. 65% consider it rude for people to talk about personal details on the phone while in public. 57% think that it’s rude to talk on the phone at all while at a social gathering. 46% think it’s rude to text at social gatherings. 23% think it’s rude to talk on the phone in any public space. And 15% think it’s rude to text in a public space. Just 3% don’t think that any of those activities are rude.

Business Policies

Some of the worst etiquette violations, such as talking on the phone in a movie theater, can take place in businesses. Some of those businesses have even adopted their own official policies to ensure proper cell phone use. Overall, 66% said they think businesses should have and enforce their own policies for cell phone use. And 86% think that customers should respect rules and policies for cell phone use in public. You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: cell-self-destructo from FlickrWhat do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on July 7 via AYTM’s online survey panel.