Silly study: Overhearing people’s cellphone conversations is annoying

Some people try to avoid being "that guy" in an elevator or a quiet room and won't talk on their cellphone, but others just can't help themselves.

These people force the rest of us to listen to their incredibly irritating half conversations. And now a new study is proving what I, along with many others, could have told you years ago - overhearing others' phone conversations is annoying.

Okay, so maybe we don't need the study to tells us it's annoying, but it also offers some ideas as to why.

The study published in the science journal PLoS ONE last week shows when people tried to complete a cognitive task while overhearing a phone conversation, they had trouble focusing on the task. Trying to complete the task with someone on a phone was a lot harder than trying to complete the task while witnessing a two-way conversation.

[ Last week's silly study: Steep economic impact for changing clocks ]

The bystanders could also better recall the content of the one-way conversation than the two-way even though participants weren't told to listen to the conversation.

"I find cell phones annoying, frankly, and there's lots of research suggesting that many people agree - so I wanted to study this," said lead author Veronica Galvan, an assistant professor in the psychological sciences department at the University of San Diego, to Boston.com.

"There is a period of silence in the cellphone conversation...and the brain wants to understand, 'Why is that person saying that and what context is there for this conversation," she said to CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks.

The discussion section of the study explains the results and some possibly reasons:

"Participants who overheard the one-sided conversation rated the conversation as more noticeable, and distracting. They were also more surprised that the conversation took place than participants in the two-sided condition. Participants who overheard the one-sided conversation were also more likely to rate the content and volume of the conversation as annoying than those who overheard the two-sided conversation...This annoyance may be caused by the 'blurring of the distinction between the public and the private sphere.' For example, people typically have personal, not business, conversations while they use cell phones in public. Bystanders who are exposed to these personal conversations may not have much control over the situation, thereby increasing their levels of annoyance and frustration."

[ More Geekquinox: Earthquakes produce instant gold veins ]

Galvan also points to other research showing when bystanders aren't free to leave (such as when waiting for a bus) the phone call becomes even more annoying.

A similar, but separate study was conducted at Cornell University last year, but what separates this study from others is the realistic context. Participants were just asked to do a task, unaware the one or two-way conversation was part of the experiment.

The goal of the research is to learn about the affect phone conversations have in workplaces and other public environments.

(CP photo)

Silly Studies is an occasional feature that will take a closer look at an unusual, recently-released study or survey. It is not intended to mock real science.