Nigerians And Phone Ethics
by Olusola Oyewola2007-09-11 07:02:51 | Viewed 2018 times
One of the prominent channels by which effective communication can be made is through the use of telecommunication means. The urge for family members to keep in touch with one another, for lovers to keep the flame of the emotional feelings they share burning, for friends to remain in contact, and even for corporate organizations and business entities to maintain continuous flow of information have necessitated the needs to stay connected to one network or the other. In Nigeria, as well as in other Africa nations staying close to family and siblings has been facilitated by this medium thereby strengthening the African spirit of togetherness.
Many
thanks to the last administration led by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo whose
tenure has left Nigerians with a memorable legacy by creating an enabling
environment for the telecommunications industry to operate and this major
achievement has drastically changed the lifestyles of the people of
Africa’s most populous nation, and as a result caused substantial
improvements in social and economic activities of the populace.
With the phenomenon growth in the country’s telecommunications industry came some observed anti-social behaviours exhibit by some phone users notably those connected to the mobile networks. These set of people are very loquacious during the course of telephone conversation and in every sense break every rule of “telephone ethics” in terms of mannerism. They have become such a nuisance to the society that their actions are no longer tolerated by others.
A very common occurrence of this social malady involves making unnecessary noise while in the middle of phone conversation. To these people such thing as noise pollution does not exist. They talk themselves dumb not mindful of the effect their action is having on their immediate surroundings; one is tempted to think that the phone equipment has turned to a public address system. Some even go to the extent of gesticulating and demonstrating energetically meanwhile passers-by who are not in a hurry wait and watch the “scene” created by the caller, you cannot help but to imagine what sort of modern madness initiated by wrong users of GSM phone. With the head tilted to an angle, one hand holding the machine the other being wave haphazardly, the legs constantly stampeded on the ground and the body coordinating the whole action, they are such a sight to behold!
Some Nigerians have been noted for their notorious ways of manipulations, they have ways of breaking the rules without being caught and the law against receiving or making calls while driving is not an exception. At one point or another reports are being made of people found guilty of this offense, it is sad to point out that some people have lost their lives as a result of this careless attitude. The effort of federal road safety commission to reduce road accident to a minimum level is being frustrated by the action of these people, their action is extended to the highway which is always in bad condition and ordinarily could cause accident.
More also, there exists a menace mostly found in our higher institution of leanings. Again it is very sad to note that those who are believed to be the leaders of the nation in the nearest future cannot conduct themselves in a respectable way. Some students are found of the habit of leaving their phone ringing tones on during lecture period and in most occasion when calls come through they cause disruption to the on-going lectures, the notice pasted on the walls forbidden such behaviour is nothing to go by.
Without being told, students should have some sense of decency as regards phone use when they are in official gathering such as lecture halls. It has also been observed that out of selfish interest some students intentionally play the tones on their phones especially for those lectures they considered boring and uninteresting knowing fully well that such action might annoy their tutors and make them to abort the lectures. This habit has also extended to gatherings such as seminars, conferences, inaugural lectures and even the worship places are not left out. Imagine churches and mosques have to go all way to inscribe notice forbidden phone use in their respective worship centres -places regarded as sacred and holy!
Media houses such as radio and television occasionally allow participation from the public in order to discuss issues especially those of national interests through telephone interactions. More often than not presenters of such programs are being constantly harassed by people labeled as “flashers”. What they do is to place momentary call which would never be allowed to be picked because they will disconnect as soon as it is being picked at the other end thereby causing nuisance. These flashers have caused some presenters to restrict participation in their programs to the use of SMS only which in most occasions cannot convey the message of the participants like live interaction would have done. Flashers are not only nuisance to live presentations they could be torn in the flesh of business owners as well. Some of them disturb business organizations through their constant “flash” and as result create unpleasant moments for such business entity.
There is another popular misconception among the youths especially the ladies. They have abused the ‘call me back’ –an automated SMS and a value added service offered free of charge by service providers to assist individual subscribers to reach out to others when they do not have enough airtime to place calls or send SMS. The call me back comes in different templates depending on service providers but generally they express situational moment individual users might found themselves. This value added service has been grossly abused, it is being sent at just anytime and any moment. There was a report of a clerk who sent a ‘call me back. It is an emergency’ to her boss who immediately called his employee phone just to be told that she would not be coming to work, she nearly lose her job for that unwarranted attitude.
When a call is being placed by a first caller the aim is definitely to pass certain information across to the receiver who is expected to at least give the caller an audience before passing his/her personal comment. In Nigeria, this is not so in most cases, you place a call and before your ‘hello’ the receiver at the other end has started pouring out as though he/she has asked you to call.
Multimedia phones are made such that users can have access to multimedia services like MMS, camera for pictures, and video to record events etc. Another use has been invented by some Nigerian students. It is no other thing but the use of phone for examination malpractices. The way they go about it is to record all major points, drawings and other features that they feel would be of help on their mobile devices. Some have taken it up as a serious business to such effect that instead of having group study what they do is group sharing. By that, they assign what to cover on their notes to each member of the group which will later be shared by all. This is a good division of labour, each only has to just cover section of the whole syllabus and during exams the phone is an accomplishment to such social vices.
In as much as it is necessary to place and receive calls using the mobile devices, it is equally necessary to have some sense of decorum and display good mannerism during the course of the use of these mobile gadgets. The mobile phones are designed to service us based on our needs and if we know how to shop well we will optimize both the use of the equipment and that of the network subscribed to. You need not to expend all your energy to be heard because it has been taken care of during the design of your hand set irrespective of the maker, and all you need do is relax and chat normally as if your receiver is there very close to you. You should be in control when placing a call or you would end up feeling lousy. Also the hands free and head set gadgets are made to assist you when you do not have immediate access to your mobile device and when a call comes through while driving you can easily pull up by the road and answer your caller before proceeding on your destination. Before attending official function you should know the right profile to activate on your mobile set to avoid creating unnecessary disturbance during the course of the program.
If we make efforts to obey these simple instructions as regards phone use and others aspect of our daily engagements we are not only creating a better communication environment for ourselves but also a better society.
The author, Olusola Oyewola is currently a Youth Corps Member serving in Calabar, Cross River state, Nigeria.
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