I couldn't help but wonder

Rob and I took the train out to Long Island today to help his sister move herself and her three kids into a new house. It's a block and a half from the beach and has a huge deck in the backyard. The kids are upset that they have to move because they'll be further from their friends, but I say they should forget about that and make all new friends because this place is great. And there's an ice cream store down the street.
But that's not the point of this post. The point is, the woman behind me on the train got a phone call and spent 20 minutes talking to someone about how she wants to involuntarily commit her 45-year-old mother to a home because of her anorexia and psychological problems. After that, she called three more people to leave them messages about the same thing. Rob and I had differing opinions about this situation. He thought it was beyond outrageous that this woman was loudly subjecting the entire train to her unfortunate circumstances. I thought that if the situation was as extreme as it sounded and the train was where she found herself, then she probably needed to have the first conversation, which sounded like it was with someone in the psychiatric industry. I thought the next three calls probably could have waited, though.
In the time of MySpace and other social networking pages, blogs, and the ubiquitous mobile devices, is there a standard for what we owe each other when it comes to maintaining our privacy and staying considerate of the public space? Or is it just that people from Long Island should learn how to speak more quietly? And...could I sound any more like Carrie Bradshaw?