Showing posts with label phone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label phone. Show all posts
Monday, February 9, 2009
And the other extreme
Oh yeah, and I have another friend who doesn't have internet at home and only checks her email a couple times a week at work. I was thinking about her with admiration (though I often get frustrated by this) the other day and even thought about getting rid of my cell phone. Not sure I'm ready to go that far, but even the thought tells me I shouldn't get an iPhone or a Blackberry at this time.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
I Don't Get To Be Mad
I don't get to be mad when I call my friends and they don't answer their phones. I never answer mine (which makes at least one of my friends very annoyed with me - mia culpa!) and rarely even have the ringer turned on, so how can I be mad? I hope they are enjoying the sun setting on this gorgeous day...
...however, I can be annoyed. And I am. But only because I didn't really want to talk on the phone anyway. I'm content to cook my dinner, sniffle my sniffles (I hab a bad cowd. Translation: I have a bad cold.) and chase the dog around the house. So, I'm putting my annoyance in a bubble and blowing it away. And getting back to dinner, dog and sniffles.
...however, I can be annoyed. And I am. But only because I didn't really want to talk on the phone anyway. I'm content to cook my dinner, sniffle my sniffles (I hab a bad cowd. Translation: I have a bad cold.) and chase the dog around the house. So, I'm putting my annoyance in a bubble and blowing it away. And getting back to dinner, dog and sniffles.
Friday, September 7, 2007
The Phone is There for MY Convenience
We have all these modern conveniences, all these devises to give us wireless and constant access to work, our friends and family and even the entire world-wide-web. Seems that all this access should improve our lives, but I think it takes careful managing of our relationships with technology to make it work for us, instead of allowing it to work us.
Starting with cell phones. I decided not to get a land line, so now I only have a cell phone. I love my cell phone. Like pets, it's okay to love your cell phone so long as you don't love your cell phone. I enjoy the convenience of making calls wherever I am: stuck waiting for my number to be called at the DMV, on the way to my friends house to see if they need me to stop at the store for anything, in the airport, by the pool. I especially enjoy the ease and convenience of text-messaging. I can just ask the question, send the reminder, share the info really fast without actually having to take the time to speak to the person. And it's easy to get the same from my friends too. I find this less disrespectful to the person I am with than actually making a call, but I know it drives some people, that is, A, crazy.
What I hate is receiving calls. When I'm home alone or needing to speak to someone, I love people to call me, but if those conditions aren't met, I hardly answer. It's nothing personal and often it's unintentional because my phone is on silent so I don't notice the call anyway. But even if I notice the call, I often silence or ignore it if I'm with someone or doing something. Because "the phone is there for my convenience." I use quotes because this is, in fact, a quote and not my words at all, though I can't for the life of me remember where I read that story. At any rate, the phone is there for my convenience and I'm not going to pick up if it's not convenient. That may mean I'm busy, I'm with someone, I'm just not in the mood to talk, I'm not in the mood to talk to that particular caller or that I'm suffering from cell phone head, since that's the only phone I have now.
I want to encourage, well, everybody, especially those others who also only have cell phones, to consider taking this approach as well. There is no reason that using or having a cell phone, even if it is one's only phone, should mean that we have to be accessible all the time. The silent and ignore features are there for our convenience too.
Starting with cell phones. I decided not to get a land line, so now I only have a cell phone. I love my cell phone. Like pets, it's okay to love your cell phone so long as you don't love your cell phone. I enjoy the convenience of making calls wherever I am: stuck waiting for my number to be called at the DMV, on the way to my friends house to see if they need me to stop at the store for anything, in the airport, by the pool. I especially enjoy the ease and convenience of text-messaging. I can just ask the question, send the reminder, share the info really fast without actually having to take the time to speak to the person. And it's easy to get the same from my friends too. I find this less disrespectful to the person I am with than actually making a call, but I know it drives some people, that is, A, crazy.
What I hate is receiving calls. When I'm home alone or needing to speak to someone, I love people to call me, but if those conditions aren't met, I hardly answer. It's nothing personal and often it's unintentional because my phone is on silent so I don't notice the call anyway. But even if I notice the call, I often silence or ignore it if I'm with someone or doing something. Because "the phone is there for my convenience." I use quotes because this is, in fact, a quote and not my words at all, though I can't for the life of me remember where I read that story. At any rate, the phone is there for my convenience and I'm not going to pick up if it's not convenient. That may mean I'm busy, I'm with someone, I'm just not in the mood to talk, I'm not in the mood to talk to that particular caller or that I'm suffering from cell phone head, since that's the only phone I have now.
I want to encourage, well, everybody, especially those others who also only have cell phones, to consider taking this approach as well. There is no reason that using or having a cell phone, even if it is one's only phone, should mean that we have to be accessible all the time. The silent and ignore features are there for our convenience too.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Cell Phone Head
Everybody's got a cell phone. I remember when I first moved to P___, I couldn't wait to get a cell phone. Both the people I moved here with had cell phones even in the relatively rural area we were from so I really wanted one too. Back then, I think cell phones were considered a luxury item, but these days they've become a necessity...if you let them.
With my recent move, I've decided not to have a land line telephone. I can easily borrow free wireless Internet from the city, my neighbor or the cafe down the block, so I don't need a line for that either. Since my last phone bill, including Telephone Assistance and high-speed wireless Internet, was about 55$ split with my housemate, this is a great way to save some money. For just about $15 a month extra, I can add enough minutes to let my cell phone be my primary phone number. Since I usually have it on silent, rarely answer or return calls, listen to my messages sporadically and spend most of my talk time with another network user, I don't think my minutes will be an issue.
However, what may be an issue is cell phone head. Not using my cell phone that often, I've forgotten how bad cell phone head can get. Cell phone head includes, but is not limited to the following conditions:
With my recent move, I've decided not to have a land line telephone. I can easily borrow free wireless Internet from the city, my neighbor or the cafe down the block, so I don't need a line for that either. Since my last phone bill, including Telephone Assistance and high-speed wireless Internet, was about 55$ split with my housemate, this is a great way to save some money. For just about $15 a month extra, I can add enough minutes to let my cell phone be my primary phone number. Since I usually have it on silent, rarely answer or return calls, listen to my messages sporadically and spend most of my talk time with another network user, I don't think my minutes will be an issue.
However, what may be an issue is cell phone head. Not using my cell phone that often, I've forgotten how bad cell phone head can get. Cell phone head includes, but is not limited to the following conditions:
- Buzzy brain feeling
- Sweaty face, including acne breakouts
- Headache
- Irritability
- Insomnia
- Mental confusion and lack of focus
I got a bad case of cell phone head today speaking with A and not only snapped at him, but disregarded his feelings with some crappy comment. Now, I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't want to just stay on the phone while the other party was reading through their mail, but I don't think that is enough to justify being so inconsiderate...but I think cell phone head is a good enough excuse.
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