Digital devices are indispensable and many of us are transfixed by our digital world. We become absorbed by our screens, occupying a private digital bubble and scarcely noticing the people that are sitting around us or intruding into our physical space.

Good manners are rooted in an observant awareness of other people and the ways in which our behaviour is impacting on them, so this tendency to withdraw attention is beginning to have a negative impact on our behaviour. This is particularly apparent on public transport, where we inevitably find ourselves in proximity with strangers. We talk loudly on our phones in quiet carriages, disturbing the people around us, and are becoming increasingly casual about using adequate headphones to absorb the noise that emanates from our devices. Staring at our screens, we do not look at our surroundings, and frequently fail to notice that a fellow passenger needs a seat or assistance.

Equipped with phones, laptops, headphones, we have entered a digital space, where the clear demarcations between the public and private spheres have become increasingly obscure. Our behaviour becomes dangerous when we are using our devices in public for activities that are essentially private or confidential – working, banking, purchasing online, or conducting personal interactions on social media, for example dating. Lost in our own worlds, we are not sufficiently conscious of the ways in which vitally important security can be breached. How do we protect ourselves?

Think about Where you Sit

Screens are clearly visible, especially when working on laptops. So, before you settle down to work on a confidential document on public transport, take the simple precaution of finding an isolated seat, if possible. If not, be sure to angle your screen away from nosy neighbours, turn down the brightness settings to make it less legible, or use a privacy screen protector.

On tubes and crowded trains, you may be surrounded by strap-hangers, who could easily have a clear bird’s eye view of your screen. Look up occasionally and if you’re at risk of being overlooked, adjust your screen.

If you’re travelling at night and sitting next to a window, remember that your screen will be clearly reflected in the window and visible to the person sitting behind. Think about turning down the brightness.

What about your Belongings?

Some people make themselves so comfortable, spreading out their papers and setting up their laptops, that they forget they are occupying a shared space. If they need to leave the seat for any reason, they may even neglect to close the laptop and put their papers away. Apart from the fact that you might be invading your neighbour’s space, it’s important to safeguard your belongings, ideally taking them with you. If you can’t do that, audibly ask a near neighbour to keep an eye on your possessions, which will alert other passengers.

Eagle eyes are not just trained on your screen; people might also be looking at other clues that give away your identity or personal information. Workplace ID cards, worn around the neck or casually placed on the tabletop, will give an interested observer all sorts of vital information about individuals and the companies they work for – this could be a vital tool in industrial espionage, extortion or even blackmail.

Beware Eavesdroppers

Everyone who travels these days is used to hearing a hubbub of other people’s phone calls. Even if you are really not interested, it is sometimes annoyingly difficult to tune out of these conversations and often the indiscretion and intimacy of the revelations is quite startling. Yet the perpetrators, lost in their own digital world, never seem to notice that they are loudly broadcasting their secrets to all and sundry.

For the sake of your fellow travellers’ sanity and for your own security, it is vital to remember that when you are on public transport you are moving in a public sphere, and other people are observing and listening to you. It is extremely irresponsible to discuss confidential or private matters on public transport, because an acute eavesdropper will be able to construe a great deal from overheard conversations and some of that information (management buyouts, mergers, imminent redundancies, share flotations) might well be marketable.

Even if you are not leaking industrial secrets, bear in mind that you might be giving away important information about yourself. A seemingly innocuous call, perhaps to make an appointment or an online purchase, could involve a series of revelations about yourself – your name, address, date of birth, or even – God forbid – your credit card number. A cybercriminal could pick up enough information to embark on fraud or identity theft, so it really isn’t worth the risk.

Take Back Control

Headphones are a vital tool when it comes to fending off surveillance on public transport. Apart from the fact that your fellow passengers will be grateful if you make any effort to reduce annoying noise pollution, headphones will mean that people sitting next to you are not able to hear a two-sided conversation – we’ve all experienced how audible mobile phone conversations can be, especially when sitting in proximity to the caller. Always using headphones or earbuds will ensure that avid listeners are not able to piece together entire conversations and will have the added advantage of reducing the amount of noise pollution that you are generating.

Because of all the risks of being overheard, not to mention the irritation you are causing to other passengers, it is aways preferable to text, rather than talk, when communicating in a public space, as long as you are careful about ensuring that your phone screen is not visible. Texting incoming callers or impatient colleagues to explain that you are on a train or bus and therefore cannot talk but will call them back as soon as you disembark, displays both common sense and discretion, and nobody should hold it against you.

Our digital devices have opened up new horizons, but they have also trapped us in a 24/7 world, where we are switched on at all times of the day and night, and ready to respond to a constant flow of communication. We need to consider our own round-the-clock accessibility and accept that very few people are actually indispensable. Being inundated by texts, emails and messages might make you feel like a vital cog in the machine, but the reality is that your total availability is distorting your perception of the division between work and leisure time and blurring all-important boundaries.

Try to accept that, in most instances, allowing a call to go to voicemail or an email to remain unanswered for a couple of hours, is hardly going to bring your workplace to a crashing halt, or trash your professional reputation. Carving out a bit of time for yourself on your daily journey will bring benefits because it will allow you to decompress and unwind. You can, of course, choose to monitor your incoming communications but try to accept that your only obligation is to deal promptly with genuine emergencies. Just make sure you do so discreetly.

Download Debrett's Guide to Digital Discretion