Time to silence phones, game consoles and headsets on trains

Source: News article from TODAYonline | Voices

Letter from Sam Ang

THE SMRT has taken action against commuters eating and drinking on MRT trains. However a more annoying and pervasive daily problem is not about eating and drinking.

When I take the train to work in the morning, it is very common to hear irritating noises and music coming from electronic gadgets like handphones and handheld game consoles.

There are those who listen to music so loud that all those around them are forced to listen to it. The bigger audio headsets often give off loud noises and these should be banned. The worst scenario is to be seated next to someone wearing them.

Ring tones, too, can be loud but at least telephones do not ring all the time. On the other had, one can be sitting near or next to a someone listening to music that is blasting away non-stop for half-an-hour or more.

As in the case of eating or drinking on the trains, most of this noise comes from teenagers and young adults.

This problem is getting worse because the culprits have been getting away with it. It is time the SMRT takes strong action to stop this nuisance. The culprits should be fined because, as in case of eating and drinking, warning them is not good enough.

Everyone would like to sit in a quiet train in the morning and concentrate on the day's work ahead.

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Mr.Keropok's Thoughts:

To a certain extent, I share Mr Sam's sentiments. Honestly, it's really hard these days to see anyone today while on board public transport whom is not "plugged in" to something.

MP3 player, PSPs, Mobile phone bluetooth earpiece....etc. You name it, they've got it! Nothing wrong with that... but it gets especially disturbing when these behavior get out of hand and become a social nuisance.

What happened to those days when we could have some peace and quiet?

In this aspect, we should really learn from the Japanese. They may be plugged in most of the time, but they exercise social responsibility in not disturbing the people around them. If there's a spark of noise coming from your gadget, you will be stared upon fiercely by fellow commuters!