News Spoof: Hang on, I'm still on the Phone

We interrupt the usual Blog Entries with Special News Report.
This article was adapted from the Sunday Times on 7 June 2010.
I have created an alternative title:

Hang on, I'm phone-ing!!!
(Taken from the Famous Commercial: Hang on, I'm Bueno-ing!!!)
Be mindful of rampant use of phone in the company of others, say etiquette experts.

The boyfriend of Ms Tan Ah Lian, a designer, is upset.

When they are out for dinner, Ms Tan, 21, has a habit of using her iPhone to send tweets to her more than 90 Lians, or chat with friends on Facebook.

They bitch... talk about everything - from food she is eating and the place she is at, to random thoughts that come to mind.

"My boyfriend keep asking me to talk to him loh, and wants me to stop talking to my friends. He is so irritated that he even threatened to ignore me leh! SIAO one," she said.

Like Ms Tan, more people just cannot resist using their mobile phones during meals, meetings and classes - in fact, just about anywhere - to text, tweet and use Facebook.

Ms Aifone Luver, a Sociologist who supported Ms Tan, said that this is "not necessarily a bad thing probably because her boyfriend might be as boring as a stick, so she just has to find ways to entertain herself."

But etiquette experts say such behaviour is considered rude and disrespectful if it is done to extremes.

Etiquette coach, Heads Tuuitting, said such activities should be minimised, even in the company of friends, as they may be disruptive or seen as rude.

But Ms Chip Chatty said engaging in phone activities can be fun for some groups. "I've seen young people hanging out in cafes, showing their tweets to each other or playing games together. It's part and parcel of their growing up."

In business setting, the use of the mobile phones for any purposes is a transgression, etiquette gurus advise.

Some companies also ban staff from using social networking sites, as such employers usually see employees bitching... gossiping through those sites, mainly talking bad about them. How bad their fashion sense are, how ugly they look, how unfriendly they are, no wonder they are still single, stuff like that.

Mr Fassbuk Hore, a managing director of a recruitment firm, said Social Networking sites like Twitter and Facebook have become an acceptable way of communication. His firm encourages employees to network with one another and clients through such sites. He even promotes employees to socialise to him during work more as he enjoys gossiping too. Employees will also get special paid bonus to those who give him really savvy gossips about the colleagues in his company.

With mobile phones becoming more advanced and cheaper (To those who can afford it will definitely feel this way) to get it, it is difficult to stop rampant use of the applications, Heads Tuuitting said.