Passing Thought – Audio Etiquette

Before and during the time my mom's chemo treatments are under way, I wait in a large open room surrounded by people incapable of going 5 minutes without staring at their devices. That's understandable, they've replaced newspapers, books and magazines as ways to optimize the time. I'm guilty of doing the same. What I don't do, however, is ever assume that others waiting are interested in hearing the audio content of whatever I'm watching or listening to. I was raised to respect shared spaces, to talk softly, and to be polite and civil. Seldom is my time spent waiting free from the annoyance of personal phone-calls, annoying music, or the rapid-fire cackling and commentary of random shorts videos in various languages. None of these people seem to know or care about their disruption to others. It's offensive. I would be praised and admonished in unison if I asked that they lower their voices or volume. Instead, also being taught not to be confrontational, I am forced to put in noise cancelling headphones and sit in an alternate spot.