Talk

Lying on the go

by Michelle Chihara

Boston mobile-phone users are two-faced liars. At least according to a survey conducted by Omnipoint Communications.

Of the 800 people surveyed in eight New England markets, Bostonians had the highest incidence of wireless-phone use, and the highest number of users who lied about their locations while talking on the phone. At 21 percent, or more than one in five, Bostonians out-lied New Englanders from Providence to Portsmouth, usually by more than four percentage points.

On their mobile phones, men lied more than women. Teenagers lied more than everyone else. Also, almost everyone polled thought that the "most inappropriate" or "most annoying" place to use a cell was in the car. Yet 91 percent of those polled used their phones most frequently while in their cars. In other words, most mobile-phone users are hypocrites.

But why do Bostonians need to lie about where they're at? Most mobile-phone users felt that restaurants, the theater, and the bathroom were unacceptable remote-calling locations. Fine. But though the latter might be worth lying about ("No, that was a sudden rush of water outside my window at the office, really"), it's hard to imagine feeling so ashamed about calling from a restaurant or a car that you'd lie about it. Unless, of course, you're one of the lying teens. But even then, if you've borrowed the car, it's missing from the garage; lying isn't going to keep you from getting caught.

Maybe cell phones -- with their static, their spontaneous disconnections, and their sudden, annoying rings-that-sing -- simply make lying easy. About 20 percent of people in Boston have used mobile-phone conversations as a way of excusing themselves from conversations they're having in the flesh ("Band camp is really a fascinating topic, but if you'll excuse me, I think I feel my cell phone vibrating") -- in other words, as a way of lying in person.

Or perhaps we're simply lying as a cover-up for leading lives that don't really require cell phones in the first place ("No, that's not Cheers on TV that you hear in the background, that's the fabulous crowd here at Caprice!"). After all, the second-most-likely location to make or receive a wireless call was at home.