Should mobile phone calls be banned in public places?

From April, requests to switch off your mobile phone before a play or concert begins in New York will be backed up with the threat of a $50 fine.

Anyone making a call, talking on their mobile, or even being rung during the performance will be breaking the law.

New York is believed to be the first major US city to bring in such legislation although the new ban does not cover sporting events.

Councillor Phil Reed, the main sponsor of the new law has descibed the move as a "quality of life issue".

What do you think? Would you like to see a similar ban on mobile phones in public places in the UK?

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Thank you for your comments; this debate is now closed. A selection of your e-mails is published below.

Why do people insist on getting so easily annoyed by others using mobile phones on trains and buses? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for restricting their use in cinemas, theatres, quiet sporting events, when driving and in museums. But what is the problem with a passenger on a bus or train, or in a car using their phone? Are people really that irritable? It's no different than two people having a conversation in person.
Neil, UK

As a lone female traveller, and especially when travelling late at night, I find this device reassuring and invaluable

Maria, England

Banning the use of mobiles on trains is a big mistake if you live in England. Every train journey I make, myself and other passengers find the mobile invaluable for informing our friends and relatives, who are expecting us or waiting to pick us up, that we are going to be late/don't know what's happening/won't be arriving at all! As a lone female traveller, and especially when travelling late at night, I find this device reassuring and invaluable.
Maria, England

I have friends who need their mobiles on all the time because they are on call. But they still have the courtesy to turn the ringer off, leaving the vibrating alarm on when in the cinema or in a restaurant, and then go to the foyer to take the call. I find it sad that such a law is necessary to force people to exercise a bit of common sense and consideration. It is generally the volume with which people talk on their phones and the ring tones which are most irritating.
Nicci, Germany (ex- UK)

To all those who maintain that mobile phones are no louder than people having conversations on the train - NO! Not only do we have to tolerate loud piercing ring tones but the people using these phones seem to want to demonstrate that the person on the other end of the call could hear them without the phone. If you persist in using these monstrosities, be discreet about it. Turn down the ring tone and stop shouting.
Alan, London. UK

Yes, I believe mobile phones have taken over control of our lives...and I have one! But I only use it for emergency and never have it on while driving or in a theatre, restaurant, etc. It is intrusive to me and the people around me, as is smoking in public places, which also should be banned in the UK!
Sharon Thomas, UK

They should also be banned in trains, buses, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, courtrooms, supermarkets and definitely public toilets

Jerath, USA

There is always a place and time for the use of new inventions and technology. Already, airlines do not allow use of personal mobile telephones while in flight. The most dangerous are people using hand held mobile telephones while driving. Other places where their use should banned are in trains, buses, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, courtrooms, supermarkets and definitely public toilets.
Jerath, USA

What? How passive have we become? We now need a law and a bobby with a bat to "enforce" what could be accomplished by walking over and telling the yacking fool what is obvious to everybody else within earshot, "shut up and shut it off!"
Chuck Boudreau, USA

I do not see the problem here. Someone holding a conversation on a telephone is little different in noise/distraction to a conversation between two people face to face. The reason telephone conversations stand out on trains is simply because we are an antisocial nation when it comes to strangers - so these places are more often than not silent. Shall we legislate against all conversations in restaurants? Fortunately, most people in this country remain courteous during performances, so the need for laughable legislation should not arise as it does in the land of the 'free'.
Luke, England

I understand how disrespectful it can be for someone to talk in a Theatre be it to another person or on a cell phone. What I don't understand is why people get annoyed by people talking on a cell phone on a busy train. The cell phone is only the communication medium so whether a person speaks to a friend using it or talks to them directly then they are still making noise. I can't understand why people get upset at cell phone users when other people are having conversations and making the same amount of noise anyway.
Jason, Canada

I was pretty laissez faire about the whole issue, until interruptions occurred in movies (quite frequent here), concerts, art museums, and the opera. The final straw was when a phone went off in mass and the offender scampered off in the side aisle! I turn mine off in most confined public areas or leave the vibe ring on, and leave the room to reply.
Jeff, USA

All this talk reminded me a movie where Alberto Sordi, while staying in London, felt depressed by the absolute silence of an utterly English restaurant and moved to a noisy Italian one. In Portugal, we go to restaurants to enjoy food but also to enjoy the company of friends and to talk to them. If people are talking in the room, what difference does it make to others that they are talking to someone near them or far away? Restrictions on phones should be similar to restrictions on talking. Of course you are not supposed to talk during a performance.
José Amarante, Portugal

Some people are incapable of behaving properly in public venues

Helen, UK

Some people are incapable of behaving properly in public venues regardless of laws. As has been said, it should not take a law to stop people spoiling shows and evenings out for others. I think cinemas and theatres should install phone jammers in their buildings to stop the problem. If you need to make a call, you'll have to get up and leave the auditorium.
Helen, UK

Use of phones in cinemas or theatres is a little discourteous, but it amuses me how this discussion immediately turns to that particularly British fixation about people speaking or interacting in public. I have lived in many countries and only in England have I found that people become incensed when anyone speaks above a whisper, touches or even looks them in the eye when on public transport. Why become so enraged at overhearing a stranger's conversation?
Jon, Spain

Can we also ban people that incessantly whinge about mobile phone users?
Mark, UK

I'm fed up with being told I can't use something I've spent a lot of money paying for

Thomas Yasin, UK

The people who bleat and whine about mobile phones need to join the 21st century. Mobiles are an essential way of life for many in this country, and I'm fed up with being told I can't use something I've spent a lot of money paying for. Why on earth do train companies insist on having "quiet" carriages, no one wants them, they just annoy people, since they don't ask whether you want to be placed in one of these carriages when buying the ticket, like they do with smoking/non-smoking.
Thomas Yasin, UK

I must admit that even though I was given a mobile, I still consider it the work of the devil. However everybody is ranting against phone use in any public place, and while there are a lot of very inconsiderate people about, there are also people who need to be contactable by phone, and perhaps would like to be allowed to go into public spaces. Imagine getting a call to say that your child has been run over and is critical in hospital; "Sorry about that sir - now pay the £50 fine before we let you go".
Matt, UK

Mobile call usage should be banned in some public places; notably, on trains, in restaurants, on buses, in cinemas, in theatres, whilst driving and anywhere near me.
The inconsiderate and ubiquitous use of these devices is at best irritating and at worst anti-social or even dangerous. Why is it that people must spend their time talking interminable rubbish to people they have just seen, are just about to see or will see tomorrow! Please, some consideration and courtesy for others, who don't want to hear about your day, your dinner, your angst or who said what to whom.
Jacob Johnson, England

All laws should be justifiable and necessary. I don't believe in persecuting cigarette smokers who want to use their mobile phones in public, as long as the smell of their cigarette doesn't disturb my enjoyment of food I have paid for, or the sound of their phone conversation disturb my enjoyment of music I have paid to listen to. This is a law obviously designed by New Yorkers who have nothing better to do than take away from New York policemen their ability to use their judgement in enforcing existing laws.
Vig, UK (ex New York)

The few that refuse to be considerate result in restrictions being placed on everyone

John B, UK

I am heartily sick of the selfish people who insist on using their mobiles in theatres, cinemas, restaurants etc when it is reasonable to expect a degree of peace and quiet. I am also rather bored of those who use their phones on the train and speak sufficiently loudly that the other person could probably hear them without using the phone at all. Unfortunately, as with so much else, the few that refuse to be considerate result in restrictions being placed on everyone. Since we managed for years without having 24x7 access to a telephone it won't hurt anyone to do without their idle gossip for the time they have chosen to be in an entertainment venue.
John B, UK

I don't think a similar ban here is necessary. The vast majority of people here have the common courtesy to turn their phones off during a performance.
Rob, UK

I fully agree with this stance. Mobile 'phones are useful items when used correctly, but too many people misuse them. We need to develop a culture whereby it is perceived to be anti-social to use mobile 'phones in certain public places. The US introduction of fines for use in public areas is, I believe, the first step along this road.
Michael Thompson, England

Oh please no! Raise up and fight this if it ever happens. Laws like this remove common sense and mutual human respect from the way we lead our lives and puts it in the hands of a policing force! How could this sort of law enhance anyones life!
As someone who lived for 12 years in the US and have seen their lawmakers little by little take human rights away from their people. It is becoming nothing short of a police state. The US has become what it hates. A freedom-hating society! And the funny thing is that they haven't noticed it! In different parts of the US you can be legally punished for drinking a beer in public, not wearing a t-shirt on the street, walking your dog on the grass, smoking in bars, putting your houshold rubbish in public waste bins (happened to me!) And now with the Terrorist threat - pretty much anything goes regarding new laws and regulations! Laws like this cause greater problems, than they solve.
Mick, Spain

To Mick, your statement about Americans having their civil liberties taken is wrong. Americans enjoy a lot more privacy and rights than people in some EU countries. Not being a national of those countries I try to not make generalisations about something I know nothing about. Having been in Europe for five years, I think my comment is true.
T, USA

Great idea, but then again I might miss the entertaining one sided conversations that sometimes cheer up my day. Mind you how would teenagers manage? They have lost the ability to make arrangements to meet friends more than ten minutes in advance. Gone are the days of arranging meetings at times a few days in advance. The towns would be awash with lost souls of teenagers completely incapable of finding their friends.
Peter, UK

Yes! And on any public transport. People seem to lose sense of direction and space, and are hardly courteous. If people need to have a conversation with somebody else, but not me, then they should keep that conversation between themselves, I am not interested in it - especially when they are invigorating conversations about yesterday's nail polish, or tonight's hair-do.
Marco, UK

It comes down to proper manners in the end

Paul Hester, UK

Mobile phones should be banned in restaurants, theatres, cinemas and anywhere else other people are trying to relax or concentrate. However mobile phones are not the real problem, people without phones just talking loudly or those with loud laughs are just as annoying when you are trying to relax or concentrate on something. It comes down to proper manners in the end, and we all know what has happened to manners.
Paul Hester, UK

I'm fed up with mobile phone users disturbing the peace on the train. If I sat down and starting rambling to myself then people would find that annoying, so I see why making a phone call should be any different. I used to own a mobile, but got rid of it because I hardly ever used it. I actually quite enjoy the feeling of being non-contactable when I am out now!
Lance S, UK

Absolutely - restaurants, galleries, theatres and cinemas. It should be about etiquette not law, but unfortunately that's a lost cause. For some reason, people think they can take a call when they are out to dinner with someone - how on earth has this happened?! It's just so rude.
Wendy, UK

Definitely agree with banning. Society managed before they were available and they should not be allowed to be a public pestilence!
Robin, Botswana

It's a well-intentioned idea, but I don't think it will work. Theatres and cinemas already have the power to (rightly) chuck out anyone who is using their mobile phone. If they're not prepared to do this (and evidently they're not otherwise this law wouldn't have been passed), how can we expect theatre attendants to start slapping £50 fines on people? It's not the law that needs to take a tough line, it has to be the managers of theatres and cinemas.
Chris Neville-Smith, Durham, England

Can we have the same for incessant chatting during a performance please?
TR, UK