That's What "Vibrate" is For!
Before college, I had the pleasure of going to school in an era when cell phones had not yet reached the hands of every single person with a set of lips. I didn't have to deal with ringtones constantly interrupting class time, and people blocking my way between classes because they were too busy having a meaningless conversation with their buddies on another floor. I got out of elementary and high school just in the nick of time. Now, teachers have to deal with these retarded youngins who look for every opportunity to gab on their cellies. And with all these damn ringtones floating around, more often than not, class time is interrupted by the sounds of some overplayed pop song. In retaliation, schools across the country have adopted "no cell phone" policies, where students caught with a cell phone on school grounds will have their mobiles confiscated. (ESPECIALLY in situations when students refuse to turn off their phones during classes.) Of course, leave it up to the combination of youthful rebelliousness and modern technology to serve up a counter-attack.
Enter high-frequency ringtones. These ringtones are apparently so high-pitched, that older adults cannot hear it. Leaning much on the assumption that our hearing sensitivity diminishes with age, students have been outfitting their cell phones with these ringtones in order to be able to hear their phones without teachers having a clue about it.
Ironically, these sounds were developed by shopkeepers in Britain to repel teenagers from loitering around their establishments afterschool! (Heh, heh, imagine screaming teenagers running away from a store in horror when hearing this sound)
Want to see if you can hear the sound? Click on the following link to test it out:
http://download.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/atc/atc_teenbuzz.mp3
Man, I clicked on that link, and let me say that the sound, emanating from my tinny laptop speakers, had me coiling in horror. It is so annoying.
If I were in high school, and some kid had this sound as a ringtone, I would have to hit them in the face hard with a textbook. Seriously.
Why can't they just put the phone on vibrate, like everyone else?
posted by djkibblesnbits at 9:10 AM
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10 Comments:
I don't hear anything. I've tried it before on another site too.
LOL. No offense, but I guess your ears are too old. :-)
See if you can get someone in their teens to hear it. It's there, trust me.
And it's utterly annoying. I'm still shuddering over the thought of that sound.
My ears are 44, so I guess it backs it up. :) I've had my 9-year-old niece listen to the other clips I mentioned. At first she said there was nothing there because I think she thought I meant something intelligible. When I asked her if a noise was there, she said yes.
Oh my f*ckin god, that is the most annoying/irritating/painful sound I have heard in a long time, and that INCLUDES clay aiken's singing. I too, would wack someone upside the head if I heard that... which would be a clear giveaway to the teacher that someone's phone is "ringing".
the above comment is left by Anna, sorry, I forgot to put my name down, lol
My 38 year old ears can still hear it. It's annoying, but I can hear it.
My 40 year old ears can hear it. It's annoying as hell - like a dog whistle - but I can definitely hear it.
L.
My 53-year old ears can hear it, too. Guess I didn't ruin them listening to loud music!
BJ
Quite a few different frequency versions and formats available of the so-called mosquito ringtone - interesting to try to test how far up the frequency ladder one can hear and compare to the suggested age groups at http://www.teenbuzz.org
sorry - forgot the link to the mosquito ringtone site
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