WHILE the nation’s elite business community has adopted a culture of mobile-phone use, phone etiquette still seems to elude most.

In cafes, on buses, on the street and in the cinema, residents say mobile telephones can be disruptive and distracting.

“When people’s mobiles ring, they should go outside so they can be as loud as they want,” complained one local store owner.

“Most people use mobile-phones as a means of boasting. For example, in cafés some people want to show that they are rich, as everyone thinks only wealthy people can use mobiles in Myanmar.

“Some users ask their colleagues to call them every 10 or15 minutes, especially if there are girls around, and then they speak loudly in order to be noticed,” he said.

Ma Zin Zin, who says she frequently goes to the cinema, complained that the incessant ring of mobile phones has become as much a part of the cinema experience as the soundtrack.

“The mobiles’ ring tones distract me while I am trying to pay attention to the film,” she said.

Another movie-goer said that mobiles disrupt her relations with live people more often than they distract her from a good film.

“I don’t have a mobile but my friend does. Her mobile phone’s ring tone often interrupts us when we are talking,” she said.

But Ko Myo Myat Soe, the owner of a jewellery shop and a hand-phone, said people without mobile phones should also be careful not to be an annoyance.

“I use my mobile in public all the time for business. I think it would be very rude for people to interrupt me while I am having a telephone conversation,” Myo Myat Soe said.

Ma Thein Than Thwe, a local business woman, agreed. She said while other people’s mobile phones do not bother her, sometimes people without them do.

“I am not bothered if other’s mobile phones go off when I am in a café. But I have ignored people who try to speak to me when I am having an important conversation on my phone,” she said.

Ko Wunna, a private tutor who likes to spend downtime at the café, said it is people with mobiles that need to be careful of their behaviour.

“It is okay to take a phone call if it is very important, but people with mobiles should be aware that if they want to talk loudly, they can go outside,” he said.