It’s happened to you. You’re listening to a fascinating guest speaker in a quiet lecture hall when suddenly the room erupts with the titillating sounds of “Bringin’ Sexy Back.” No, Justin Timberlake did not make a special guest appearance – you simply forgot to silence your cell phone.

Whether you use your cell phone as a camera, as a music device, as a mini-computer, or as a technique to avoid conversation with people you simply don’t feel like interacting with on the way to class (you know you’ve done it before), it is evident that the proliferation of cell phones in public spaces has raised numerous questions about cell phone etiquette in public.

According to some recent statistics, 82.4 percent of the American population is on some sort of cell phone plan. In that respect, cell phones are almost a staple of American society. The fact that cell phones are so prevalent means there should be some restrictions as to when people should and should not use cell phones, for the sake of others’ tranquility. For example, in 2004, many people cringed when a government agency considered lifting its ban on cell phone usage in flight. When people began considering the effects of having to endure a flight sitting next to an obnoxious blabbermouth, it was decided in April 2007 that the law against cell phone usage in airplanes would still be implemented. Is there anyone out there who really wouldn’t mind sitting next to someone on a five-hour long airplane ride listening to him or her recount what they bought at the mall last week or what they made for breakfast yesterday morning?

In my opinion, cell phones have become more of a nuisance than a tool for effective communication, since most everyone is compelled to pick up a ringing phone and those who are not compelled are obviously screening your calls, or, on very rare occasion, do not have their cell phone with them. (Imagine their willpower!)

There are very rare occasions in which you absolutely need to have a long-winded conversation with someone at the grocery store or at a restaurant that you can’t have alone in the comfort of your own home. Although you might think you are talking quietly enough so that passersby cannot hear what you did on Saturday night, there are undoubtedly people who simply can’t help but listen and be annoyed – or even shocked! Often times an intimate conversation becomes a loud, intruding discussion for others who are subject to listen to it. And you also might want to think twice before you decide to text message a friend while driving. Statistics from the Insurance Information Institute have reported that motorists who use cell phones while driving are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves or others.

I am an avid supporter of what InfoWorld.com recently named “The Screaming Baby Test.” If you would be embarrassed to have a crying baby in a situation, then silence your phone. Or, if you’d be embarrassed to be the person whose cell phone rings during church with Britney Spears’ “Gimme More” song as your ring tone, then please, silence your cell phone.