I've seen tons of people video chatting throughout public spaces in NYC, usually with headphones on so they can hear the other person. None of those people looked "like an asshole"

I always think they're assholes, annoying me with their boring conversations.

At least put the speakerphone on so we can hear both sides of the conversation.

How is it any different from talking on the phone? Something that probably millions do daily in NYC.

It isn't. I think your an asshole if you use your phone on public transport.

How is it different from having a conversation with the person next to you? Wait, are those assholes too? Or just when you can understand one of them, but not the other? Oh the misanthropy ...

It really is more distracting to hear only one side of a conversation compared to both, e.g. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....

The phone is generally a lot louder, and filled with a lot more "SORRY I MISSED THAT, I'M GOING THROUGH A TUNNEL".

So your problem is with "loud conversations", but you decided to use the very fuzzy proxy of "phone conversations" because........?

Because it's the because subset of loud conversations I'm subjected too. I also find it much more distracting when you can only hear one side of the conversation.