8 Things You Shouldn't Do When Using Your Phone On Public Transit

No one wants to hear your raunchy phone conversation at 8 am in the morning.

1. Blasting your music

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If the volume's too high, the sound from your headphone tends to 'leak' and transiters are forced to listen to whatever song you're deafening yourself with. Keep your music on low volume and be courteous to those around you. Trust me, no one wants to hear your top 40s playlist.

2. Speaking too loudly on your phone

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Same goes with phone conversations. Although your gossip from last Saturday night is super juicy, it can be annoying and irritating to hear such gruesome details so early in the morning. If you can, keep the conversations short, sweet, and quiet.

3. Taking a selfie or any form of photography on transit

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Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter are apps that are fun to engage with, we know. But some people don't enjoy their privacy being breached when you snap a picture of them at the crack of dawn or after a long day. Do what you do best and take your pictures outside behind some ~hipster~ concrete wall, and avoid blatantly snapping in public.

4. Looking at someone else's phone

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You're literally invading someone's personal space and privacy when you read their social media or texts. No matter how interesting the heading, no one likes a creepy busy-body reading over their shoulder. Mind your own phone.

5. Standing by doors and blocking traffic

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DON'T BLOCK DOORWAYS. Try to stand on the sides to avoid collisions, and frankly, to stay out of people's way. You're putting yourself and others at safety risks when you block doors. Rush hour is bad enough, but having missed your stop because someone didn't think to look up and move out the way is worse. Same goes with texting and driving; whatever the message, status, or post – it can wait.

6. Keeping your sound notifications on

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The number of times I was so close to dozing off on my train, when I'd hear an obnoxious "PING" or default ringtone at full blast volume. There’s a cool little feature on your phone you might not have heard of, it's called vibrate, use it. .

7. Blocking out conversation or social interaction

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For a device intended to make us into more social beings, it's completely rude to use your phone as a defense mechanism to block out conversation. What if someone's lost and needs directions? Try to avoid using your phone as a social shield from speaking to those around you.

8. Not being attentive to your surroundings

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By looking up once in a while, you may notice something on your everyday commute that you haven't seen before. You might make a friend. There could even be someone in need of the courtesy seat you're sitting on. Detach yourself from the clutches of your phone and learn to embrace reality rather than the virtual.