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December 15, 2008
Lumia

An anthropological observation



LONDON, England – Something’s been bothering me for a while now. Once I was affected by it myself until, even I realised that it isn’t necessary to hold the microphone part of the headset in front of your mouth if you want the person on the other end of the line to hear you.

Wireless headsets are popular, but it seems the wired headset is more popular still. After all, they’re probably packaged with more devices, and given the proliferation of music devices, it kinda makes more sense than the wireless version.

But still, it’s not surprising to see someone on the street, apparently unwittingly, holding the microphone to their mouths during a conversation. No doubt they’re actually cursing the designers in the process, wondering why there isn’t a simpler solution. The solution in question is, of course, to just let it hang, and the person will be able to hear you without a problem.

What I’d like to know is, why do people still do it? This isn’t new technology. Surely by now people would have worked it out. And even if they haven’t, they shouldn’t need to, really, should they? It should be blindingly obvious what to do. And herein lies the problem. It isn’t blindingly obvious.

But, what could be done about it?