Oh misery, misery, mumble and moan;
Someone invented the telephone.
Awakening a nation from its slumbers;
Ringing wrong, but similar numbers.
(Odgen Nash: The History of America)
"Tried reaching you on your cell phone the other day," an agitated friend said. "You didn’t answer."
Told him I was probably in the car…or possibly on my motorcycle: Two places where I never answer the cell phone.
"I don’t understand," he said. "The whole point of a cell phone is so people can get ahold of you."
I disagree. If you stop whatever you’re doing — or put yourself or other motorists at risk by answering a ringing phone — you are letting the phone rule your life.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
When I get home at night, I turn my cell phone off and stick it in the charger. When I turn it back on in the morning, there might be a half-dozen calls and/or voice mails that came in overnight. Not one tried me on our home phone.
Same for the office phone. People call your cell phone first and some don’t try a landline if you don’t answer the cell.
My cell phone is always set to vibrate, not ring. If it’s laying on a desk or in a jacket pocket, I won’t hear it while I’m sitting at my desk. Sometimes, when the phone is in the holster on my belt, it will vibrate with an incoming call while I’m on my office phone. I don’t stop talking on one phone to answer another. For one thing, it’s rude.
How many times have you waited in line to pay a check or make a deposit at a bank only to have the phone ring right when you get to the cashier or teller and they answer the phone rather than help you? Happens to me more often than it should.
Many people can’t ignore a ringing phone. I can. Those with something to say can use voice mail to leave a message or simply call back. I don’t answer phones when I’m driving or riding, I don’t answer phones when I’m busy and I don’t answer phones when I’m at home enjoying quality time with my wife. I don’t answer calls that show up as "unavailable" on caller ID or those with 800 numbers that don’t identify the caller. Most are sales calls that find a way to get around the "don’t call" registry and they never, ever, leave a message.
Phones don’t control my life. Never have, never will.
Amen, Doug! The phone does not have to be answered everytime it rings. That is why we have the convenience of answering machines and voice mail.
When people ask me how I get so much writing done, I usually tell them (quite truthfully) “I turn off the TV”. But reading this post, I realized that this answer is incomplete: I also have Caller ID and won’t answer the phone except for a small handful of people who know not to call me while I’m writing, and thus wouldn’t unless it was something important.
It’s amazing how much time that saves–enough to knock out a few pages of text a day!
Amen, Doug!! Telephones really have become a tyrannical force in our lives, haven’t they? I have call waiting but I very, very rarely use it – only when I am expecting an important call. I have a cell phone provided by my employer but I don’t own one myself. And since AT&T prohibits cell phone usage when driving, that takes care of that little problem (if I was inclined to talk and drive anyway!) Cell phones are handy, but they need to be kept under control, just like TV. I really wish people would turn off their cell phones when they are in meetings and at concerts!! How rude and distracting!
Five years ago after a few months of exorbitant rates, draconian rules and phone calls that thought they owned me, I went old school.
No cell phone brain tumor, pocket draining, codependent superglue for me. Ka Ching!
Color me independent of that scam
Some people (well not saying it’s me :)) afraid to receive phone call, and some people feel high level stress when their phone start ringing.