Commuters across the UK are venting their frustration over a strange new trend dubbed ‘bare beating’ – and it’s driving people round the bend.
The term refers to the increasingly common sight of passengers letting any noise from their phone reverberate around the carriage, rather than using headphones.
If you are a regular on public transport you may have been a victim of another passenger playing music, voice notes or videos out loud – a phenomenon that’s becoming increasingly popular.
While many consider the noise pollution to be extremely rude, there is a chance it might soon be also breaking the law.
The Liberal Democrats recently declared they are seeking to change the law to explicitly ban this type of behaviour on English public transport.
The political party want to amend the Bus Services Bill which could impose an eye-watering £1,000 fine on the so-called ‘headphone dodgers’.
Speaking to The Independent, home affairs spokesman Lisa Smart said: ‘Far too many people dread their daily commute because of the blight of antisocial behaviour – and headphone dodgers playing loud music on buses and trains are some of the worst offenders.
‘Whether you’re heading to work, taking your kids to school, or simply trying to enjoy a moment of peace, everyone deserves to feel safe and respected on public transport.
Commuters across the UK are venting their frustration over a strange new trend dubbed ‘bare beating’- and it’s driving people round the bend (stock image)
‘Time and time again, I hear from people who say they feel too intimidated to speak up when someone is blasting music or other content from a phone or speaker. It’s time to take a stand for the quiet majority who just want to get from A to B in peace.’
Taking to Reddit, commuters have questioned why people do not buy headphones to listen to music in public.
One post read: ‘Idk [I don’t know] about anyone else but this is getting so common it legitimately makes me depressed, beyond it being just really irritating. The social contract is long gone.’
Another said: ‘I feel genuine embarrassment if audio comes from my phone in public for 1 second.
‘I cannot fathom how some people are so low inhibited that they make facetime calls on speaker phone, play music, or scroll through TikTok with their phones deliberately on full blast for everyone to hear.’
Someone else added: ‘I hate being inundated with the hyper-stimulating sounds of people flipping through [Instagram] reels/TikTok, especially when someone watches a video over and over and then they scroll a little before flipping back to that same video.’
A fourth added: ‘I’ve occasionally asked people to turn it off on London trains too when I’ve been feeling wretched. Most people seem legitimately surprised someone is talking to them.’
A fifth added: ‘It’s absolutely infuriating. And as much as I’d love to make some kind of generalisation, there’s just so many people doing it now.
If you are a regular on public transport you may have been a victim of another passenger playing music, voice notes or videos out loud, without a hint of headphones in sight (stock image)
‘Young and old, male and female, people of all races. They have no concept that they might be bothering other people.
‘I’ve started to tell them to turn it off, and so far it’s gone well. I would have thought that someone willing to so blatantly break social norms would react unpredictably, but actually they genuinely don’t seem to realise they’re being annoying?
‘Or they do but the desperate need for endless reels is stronger. If it was up to me they’d be pilloried.’
The annoying trend comes off the back of a slightly less infuriating trend of ‘raw-dogging’.
Travelers on TikTok recently went viral for flying without consuming any type of entertainment, otherwise referred to as ‘rawdogging’ or ‘barebacking’ flights.
Taken to extremes, some of the practitioners also claim not to have any food or drink for the duration of the journey, even on long-haul flights.
The trend crossed over into mainstream conversations after a number of high-profile sportsmen ‘rawdogged’ flights, including Manchester City football superstar Erling Haaland.
But experts say it is dangerous to a person’s physical health, could even lead to death from deep vein thrombosis or dehydration, and that those who do it are ‘idiots’.
Haaland popularised the concept when he posted a photo of himself to social media in a business class seat on a plane, where he looked pale and almost robotic.
‘Just raw dogged a 7 hour flight. No phone no sleep no water no food only map #easy,’ the 24-year-old Norwegian wrote.
But nutritionist Toby King said rawdogging could increase the risk of getting a blood clot which ‘can break off and cause a blockage of the arteries in the lung, which is very serious and can cause death’.
‘This is one of the most dangerous trends I have seen on social media in a while, and while it looks innocent and a bit of fun on the surface, this could have deadly consequences and I would urge people to use sense when travelling,’ he told travel adventure site Inspire Ambitions.
Dr Gill Jenkins, who works in air ambulance transfers, didn’t pull her punches when describing those who rawdog flights, saying: ‘They’re idiots.’
She said while avoiding the internet and social media on a flight could be a good ‘digital detox … all the rest of it is against medical advice’.
‘The whole thing about the risk of long-haul flying is that you’re at risk of dehydration,’ she told the BBC.
‘If you’re not moving you’re at risk of deep vein thrombosis, which is compounded by dehydration.’
