Mobile phones are very popular nowadays. Everyone seems to have one. But they can be quite annoying in public places like classrooms and libraries.

People enjoy the convenience and feeling of "being in fashion" a handset provides. Joyce Lee, a pre-university student, said, "I need a mobile phone since it is easy for my friends to contact me."

Connie Fok, a second-year student of the Faculty of Business Administration (FBA), said that it would seem to be "out of date" if you do not have a handset.

But this high-tech product sometimes causes annoyance to other people. For example, your mobile phone rings suddenly during a class or meeting.

Anne Bauer Godsey, a lecturer of Communications Technology, said that she would be very upset when a student's mobile phone rings in her class.

"I think it is a kind of noisy and disturbing when a handset rings suddenly in class. It seems that students do not respect the teacher," a teaching assistant in Japanese studies, commented.

Angel Chan, a third-year student of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSH), said, "I think it will disturb other students who are concentrated on the lecture."

Veronica Chan, a third-year student of Faculty of Education, agreed, "I will feel very embarrassed if my phone rings in class."

Vincent Lee, a second-year FBA student, had a similar feeling. "Sometimes I forgot to turn off my mobile, so when it rang in class, I felt embarrassed."

Godsey said that she has set a class rule -- mobile phones and pagers must be turned off during class. And she is very happy that her students always obey the rule.

Maybe your teachers can forgive you when your mobile rings again and again in class. But will your boss forgive you?

A senior officer clerk Peter Fong has learned it a hard way. He was giving a presentation to his boss during one of the company meetings when his handset rang suddenly. "My boss got very angry at that time and asked me to stop my presentation and go away," Fong recalled. 

"I lost the chance of presentation," Fong said.

Would you please turn off your mobile phone when it is not needed? Respect others, respect yourself.