I've only seen white kids do it.

Oh well, it takes all kinds etc.

>>1078

Come to think of it, I've seen white kids do it too, just not nearly as many, and my subconscious racial bias makes it stand out when black kids do it as just one more loud, obnoxious thing black kids do.

So more generally, why?

I only ever see Asian girls doing this.

This is generally a thing I see with old white guys who are kinda technology shy.

Brain cancer yo.

>>1079
>So more generally, why?
Most likely for the same reason youngster do most of the annoying, non-illegal things they do: Because they can, and it's not the usual way to do it.

>>1084
Same. My dad does it all the time. It's easy to tell from the sound quality that he's using speaker phone, and I've started asking him when I talk to him on the phone not to use it because it bothers me. It doesn't bother me too much, but I mostly do it for the sake of people around him.
If anything, I've noticed lots of teenagers who keep the volume all the way up on their phone so that you can hear the person that they are talking to clearly, even though speaker phone is off and the phone is pressed firmly to their ear. Possibly due to the damage they've done to their ears with shitty earbud headphones.

I've done this in the car before, although I'm usually pointing the mic directly at my face for improved pickup. The audio is plugged into my car speakers. I don't really have a decent headset, so this works for me. In public though? That'd be embarrassing....

How cool do you feel holding that phone to your ear?

Now, how cool do you feel holding it in front of your face and talking into it like a tape recorder?

A: you feel cooler holding it in front of you.

Kids wanna feel cool. Besides, do smartphones even stretch far enough to go ear to mouth?

SAGE has been used.

Having recently moved from an area populated mostly by whites, Hispanics and Native Americans to a majority-black area, I can definitely confirm that this is a black people thing. I maybe saw two people EVER do this -both older white guys who sound like the dad of >>1096 and probably just don't get how phones work.

Now, in my new town, I see it almost every day. Whether on the subway or walking around the mall or in a waiting room, young black people just love putting a goddamn phone in front of their face and broadcasting their entire conversation to everyone in the area. Of course, these are mostly the same black kids on the subway who wear their Beats headphones around their neck, blasting whatever stupid rap song they're currently listening to, probably fucking up their overpriced headset in the process.

My theory: young black people are attention whores. They love the attention and don't care how boorish or annoying they come off. They just want everyone on the subway, in the mall, in the waiting room or wherever the fuck to know what they're talking about and who they're talking to. Call me a racist, but you can't deny it's true.