If so, you’ve experienced what some call “bare beating.” This term refers to the act of playing music, videos, podcasts or other audio out loud in public without headphones ― essentially treating shared space like a personal living room. Smith, the president of Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting, agreed, emphasizing that bare beating is “unequivocally rude.”“The presumption that everyone wants to listen to what you are listening to is simply unacceptable,” she said. Are you guilty of "bare beating" in public? Here's what etiquette experts think of the "unequivocally rude" behavior. And while bare beating feels like a modern behavior, it’s not entirely new.

Source: Huffington Post April 12, 2026 11:14 UTC