Analyst Says Phone headsets make you look like "a half-assimilated Borg"

[matcom]

<snip>

Natacha Vilson was catching up with an old friend she had bumped into on a New York street recently when, without even saying "excuse me," the friend seemed to be talking into space. Because he was using a tiny wireless headset perched on one ear that was barely visible, she didn't realize at first that he had taken a call on his cellphone and was no longer talking to her.

Ms. Vilson, a college student, was put off and finally said: "I'm talking to you, will you please take that off?"

Such mix-ups are happening increasingly as the small, robotic-looking phone headsets that perch in the wearer's ear become the latest high-tech accessory of choice.

Using a technology called Bluetooth, the devices generally are 3 or 4 inches long, weigh less than an ounce, and don't need to be physically plugged into a cellphone, freeing users from dangling cords and making it easy to keep the little pod clipped onto one ear constantly, even at home. They can connect with a phone that is as far away as 30 feet, though most users still keep their phones in a pocket, purse or belt clip.

"It is like my third earlobe," says Raj Mohammed, a technology project manager at a New York mutual-fund company.

While many users find them convenient and fun, the new headsets can create peculiar social situations. As was the case with Ms. Vilson and her friend, bystanders are often unaware that a user is wearing one. Indeed, users of Bluetooth headsets often appear to be talking to themselves.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB112682620643242305-IRjeoNjlaJ4npyoanyHbKuGm4,00.html

[Hugin]

1. Yup, no longer is talking to yourself necessarily a sign of mental illness

I'm sorry, were you talking?

[defiant1]

2. At least let the person you are with...

know that you are taking a phone call.

Sheesh.

And with that shit in your ear, you do look Borg-like.

Personally I hate the damn things, but I have stopped telling that to people I know.

Since, you know, persistence is futile.

[RobinA]

4. It's Still Beyond Me

why people feel the need to answer the phone while riding subways, entering supermarkets, shopping for clothing, waiting in line at the movie theater.... I guess that makes me a fogey, but I don't WANT to talk on the phone while I'm doing some other activity.

[indigo32]

7. See I don't mind using them while doing something else

I don't have a headset... just a regular cell, but geez, I would NEVER just drop out of a conversation and start talking to someone else that way, without so much as a clue whats going on, it's just plain rude.

[peekaloo]

3. more like a half ass Borg.

:o

[DS1]

5. It might physically weigh an ounce, but for me it would be like wearing

a boat anchor on a chain :scared:

[underpants]

6. That's funny I was going to start a thread about people talking to themsel

theselves. It always takes me a second to realize what is going on when some person just starts talking out loud to no one in particular.

Yes they do look like idiots. Look if it is work related either wait until you get to work or get another job (Americans are such suckers).

The first one I saw was a complete DORK trying to cross the street. I came this close to just pulling over and signalling to the guy to come over and say "Look bud you are a dork anyway, that isn't going to help"