Let’s face it, the ring tone on your MP3-enabled phone that you think is so cute is actually annoying to just about everyone else around you. They’re just too polite to say anything.

So more and more business folks are doing the smart thing, which is to permanently set their phones on silent/vibrate mode.

That means always keeping your phone on your person and just feeling the calls and text messages as they come in, so to speak. Not just when in a meeting, but practically throughout your entire working day.

The people behind the ring tones business may not like this trend, but if it gathers steam, then it will make for more peaceful offices and public places. There will be less of those horrifying boy band tunes popping up while you’re absorbed in a particularly intense moment in the movie house. No, wait, it’s the kids who do that, so don’t expect this trend to catch on with them.

It ain’t foolproof though. Vibrate works best if you’re wearing tight jeans and your phone’s pressed right against your thigh. Or if you’re wearing a fit shirt with a pocket. Unfortunately, vibrate won’t be your thing if you still wear hip-hop baggy pants or your flab’s just way too thick too feel anything anymore (Adel, how’s vibrate working for ya? –DUCK!).

I’m all for this though. After all, I and the people around me have all grown tired of listening to the same old R2D2 tweet that my phone does whenever a text message comes in.