He is 7:45 a.m. The carriage is silent. In this Nantes-Paris, everyone dozes off to get a few minutes of sleep. Except… the passenger in seat 56. Who is absolutely bored. So, to pass the time, his gaze is glued to the screen of his smartphone, where social media publications scroll past. With each finger movement, a new video starts, and the sound with it. The man doesn’t have headphones. The entire train benefits from this succession of content. Banal everyday scene.
Parisian metro. On the jump seats of line 9, two young girls are laughing. They are around fifteen years old. In front of them, a phone in FaceTime mode. Subject of the long-distance exchange: their girlfriend’s date. On loudspeaker (does she know?), the latter recounts in detail the evening spent with this boy. Raw, intimate details, revealed to the assembly, without filter. Banal everyday scene.
Every day, everywhere, they surf on their phones, scroll through Reels, listen to music, watch movies, play games in public spaces… without headphones and on speaker. A “generous” sharing which indifferently as much as it irritates. When some don’t even notice it anymore, others are boiling inside.
Why let others enjoy a song – whether they hate it or not – or a conversation in which no one can (wants) to participate? Why expose the private sphere in public space? For those mainly concerned, the reasons are multiple. And often justified.
“Lazy to put on headphones”
Eyes focused on his phone, Florian, in his thirties, watches cars spinning on an F1 circuit. The competition takes place live and he doesn’t miss a beat from the boarding line of his plane, ready to fly to Madrid. “I have headphones in my pocket, but now, as I’m chatting at the same time with my partner, it wasn’t practical. So, I’m too lazy to put them on. And since I’m not interested in the presenters’ comments, it doesn’t matter if I hear badly », he explains. The rest of the passengers are also authoritatively invited to this motorized orgy.
Félix is 32 years old, he is a designer and lives in Dijon. He half-heartedly admits to using the speaker of his phone. But he tries to be as discreet as possible. “I regularly listen to my voice messages without headphones, because I never have one with me. But, as I’m not a fool, I put the volume very low and stick the device to my ear. And if I listen to loud music on my bike, I avoid the one that sputters, both for myself and for others. »
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