I RECENTLY sat in the lounge at JFK airport opposite a well-dressed, middle-aged lady with chronic piles. Her daughter was suffering from eczema, and had also had two children at the age of 17, and was living with a married man in a house they could ill afford. The house was far too old and big to be practical. I could go on at length about the more intimate problems, but I won't. Where did I get all this information? What clever means did I employ to extract these gems of insider knowledge? Well, I just sat there and tried not to listen. The lady was using a mobile phone that seemed to necessitate her shouting, or perhaps it was because discretion was not part of her agenda. I tried looking uninterested, interested, and plain nosy. I even sat typing these words and capturing her verbiage as she held forth on the minutiae of her life. But nothing worked. She ploughed on and on with more and more details of her seemingly bizarre life.

Just what is it about mobile phones, beyond their generally poor performance, that prompts users to abandon any thought of privacy or decorum? People seem to assume they are operating in some acoustic bubble and that they alone are privy to what is being said. Much of the time it also seems unnecessary to tap into the conversation of the person at the other end; so many users seem intent on repeating every word or at least the essence of the other half of the conversation, as well as their own.

A more recent, and bizarre, incident highlighted this growing problem. I was in a restaurant full of people, and there was a quiet (and very English) buzz of conversation. Suddenly, we heard a distorted snatch of classical music played on bells, and a man at the next table pulled out a PDA. This turned out to have a GSM PCMCIA card so it would function as a (very poor) loud-speaking mobile telephone. He then proceeded to have a loud and distorted telephone call about virtually nothing. Everyone in the restaurant stopped talking and watched this spectacle in mild amusement and irritation. What a twit.

Another recent development is the common use of discreet headsets coupled to a mobile phone in the pocket or on the trouser belt. Presumably these have been promoted by the need for true hands-free operation while driving, and recent scare stories about brain tumours. (Just as an aside, it will be interesting to see how long it takes for someone to link mobile phones on the trouser belt to kidney problems. Modern mobiles periodically poll their position with the network to maintain contact and keep the databases updated. So you don't actually have to make a call to benefit from the cellular warming of the 900MHz signal.)

Anyway, back to the plot. Headsets now seem to be promoting even greater relaxation of normal inhibitions, with users somehow unaware of what they are saying out loud in public places.

For decades I have been amazed at what people will divulge about their lives and companies on trains and planes, and in pubs and bars. I have never gone around snooping or purposely gathering information, but it is pretty well impossible to blot out. Even thoroughly boring material seems to force its way into the brain if it is loud enough. If only these people would migrate to email.

Peter Cochrane holds the Collier Chair for the Public Understanding of Science & Technology at the University of Bristol. His home page is:
http://cochrane.org.uk