rantings of a phone addict

I used to be multi-media communication junkie. Self-confessed. But now that I am on the phone ALL day and the cost of all these addictions keeps going up, instead of down. Well, I'm starting to look for ways to cut corners.

But because I am so used to having the ease of technology at my fingertips at all times, it's a hard step to consider making. For example, I know a NUMBER of people whose only phone line is their cell phone. It seems to make sense in a lot of ways except that I hate my current phone so much that I have considered driving over it with my car on more than one occasion... I can't remember who makes it and frankly, I'm not sure if I should say given the predilection of some companies to sue for slander and all that. But the phone sucks. I bought it after much careful deliberation -- and by comparing its weight to other phones around it. It's not like you get to test the quality of the phone. And my previous phone weighed and ton and I hated that, so like a SMART shopper, I bought a lighter phone. A lighter phone that you can't hear out of, has poor reception and no features. Yay.

But, I digress. My problem with merely having a cell phone and no land line is that anyone can reach you anytime, anywhere. I don't like that. I already know people who have my cell phone number who can't figure out that just because I carry the phone around with me DOESN'T necessarily mean I want to talk on it all the time. The only way to send a signal to these people is to leave the phone off and frankly, it annoys me that I have to do that. Just because the phone is on doesn't mean I want to talk. It just means the phone is on. If you called my home phone and it rang til the machine came on, you would assume that I was not home and/or not available. Apparently, this same logic based etiquette does not apply with cell phones. If the phone is on, then it seems to be okay to call and call and call until you wear someone down enough to make them answer. I have been given the excuse that the voicemail doesn't come on so THAT is why the callbacks were made.

Here's a lesson in modern technology for those of you who haven't QUITE figured this out: caller id. Caller id has been around for quite some time and I know this because I even had it when I lived in South by God Dakota. That means it has been in existence for a minimum of 5 years. Not all people have this feature on their home phones, I'll grant you this. But ALL cell phones have it. Now, here's the interesting technology part so perk up you in the back... If you call someone's cell phone and it rings then that means the phone is on. If it's off you will almost NEVER hear ringing, you will be directed straight into their voicemail. So, if the phone is ringing and no one is answering and for some STRANGE reason, the voicemail does not pick up -- the owner of said cell phone will still know you called because of the magic of caller id. So unless your message was of UTMOST importance (just so we are clear, "dude, why aren't you picking up your phone -- call me" is NOT of utmost importance, this is implied by the fact that you were trying to call and your call was not answered.) it is not necessary to continue to try to call under the guise of trying to get to the voicemail. Caller id does not capture a number on many phones if the phone is off, so in that case you would need to leave a message in order for the party to know that you called.

But people who call and don't leave messages on my voicemail when my phone is off are NOT the reason for that particular rant, and I think we all know what I mean by THAT.

If you don't know what I mean, then I'm probably talking about you and stop stalking!

Okay. I meant to write about my various ideas to try to strip down some of my communication devices but then I got distracted by THAT rant and now I need coffee and food.

Hopefully next time I can stay on track, but I wouldn't bet on it. ;-)