Anyone else hate phones?

I answer the phone three different ways:

"Yes Dear"

"Straight... (waiting for the reply of "pimping")"

"This is John speaking"

Oh, I forgot I will often answer it "Andrew!"

Three of the four I have listed know that I know it is them calling.

I used to hate texting. Thought it was the most agonizing way possible to get information to people. Call or email plzkthxbye. If somebody sent me an SMS I would just call them back rather than futzing around on the number pad with my fat thumb for half an hour.

Then I bought a phone with a stylus and an on-screen keyboard. Wait, I can text 80% as fast as I can type now? From wherever I want? At any time? OH MY GOD.

I think I was averaging around 25 texts a day when I was over in Indonesia just now. Probably not a huge amount compared to some of you, but it's a lot for me! It's all about ease of use.

Also, holy crap do Indonesians text a lot! How did they ever get anything done in that country before mobile phones existed?

I'm old school and always use the house phone. My cell had 3 minutes on it last month , the house phone had 6 hours. My wife and I both phone our parents in Canada regularly, so an unlimited long distance plan makes the most sense. When I was working I would go to a person's office and actually converse with them. While IMing and texting is quick, and to the point, they often take longer to reach agreement. Talking to people should be the first line of communication, not the last.

DukeOfUndersteer wrote: everyone is going smart phones, i wanna go opposite, get a Brick, and i mean BRICK... like the 80's Motorola Brick...

That was my first cell phone, a Motorola 8000. I wish it still worked because it did everything I needed and it felt like a phone instead of something my arthritic fingers have trouble working.

I don't have a camera in my phone and I had them disable the voice mail and texting so the old Motorola would work just fine if it was digital.

My phone's actually a computer:

Making calls is the feature I use the least, even with Skype and SIP ready to go out of the box.

poopshovel wrote:

"Hey man, call me back."

Guilty as charged. Trying to break the habit.

I'm only 24. This is one of the areas where people call me the crotchety old man. I am strangely resistant to technology.

I'm 23, today, need to say that to make my point. This makes me of age to be in the "cell phone" crowd.

I'm okay with landlines, this is "normal" to me and what I use to call 911, my grandmother and my girlfriend. I can be reached on the landline and have an answering machine for when I'm not around. I don't hate it as such, but I am okay with just not answering it if I don't feel like it. I have found that other folks get unnerved when I don't answer a ringing phone...

As for cell phones, I cannot be bothered to own or want one. If I am not around my landline, it's usually because I don't want to be reached, novel idea huh?

I understand it is a necessary evil these days for a lot of jobs and that's okay. I've been there too, but usually I can't hear it ring, am driving thus making it illegal for me to answer or again don't want to take the call. I typically used a work cell to reach customers while on the move, or call back to base.

I cannot for the life of me understand texting. It's too limited a way to communicate, and possibly the biggest scam I can think of: for you techy people out there, ever calculate how much money the cell phone company makes per text. I know unlimited plans are out now, but still:

Assuming 5cents per text, you could fit 65 536 messages (at 128 bits a message) on an old school diskette (1.44 megs). That's 3276.80$ to the phone company. A little ridiculous in the days of broadband no?

Adrian_Thompson wrote: I really don't understand my daughter and her friends, I'll walk into her room and she's sat on her bed having 3-4 different text conversations, why not just call? Once or twice back and forth is one thing, but after that point just bloody talk to each other!

Well, that's an easy one. They aren't all having the same conversation, and most likely a couple of conversations are about people in the OTHER conversations. Can't talk about someone behind their back if they are on the same "conference call" together!

Growing up, I thought of regular phones as a necessary evil. I didn't like calling on them because I didn't want to interrupt anyone on the other end from what they might have been doing. Now with cells and people's willingness to talk on them, it's not so much of an issue.

I do like them better than texting and emailing due to the fact that you get tone of voice so much clearer with, well, a real voice. so there's less misunderstanding. OTOH, texting is nice if you're in a location where it's hard to hear, or you want to send out a mass text to a bunch of people in different places at the same time (like you got to the restaurant first and it's an hour wait, let's figure out a different place to meet).

I like the ability to call back to the house while I'm at the grocery store and ask if there's anything else people want, or if I've forgotten anything, or if one thing on the list wasn't available, what's an acceptable substitute (and hell, I'll sometimes use the phone camera to take a picture and ask "which one?"). Vice versa, she can contact me easily while I'm out running erands if she thinks of something she forgot or realized that we needed from someplace I'm already going or is on the way. Or I can let the wife know that one store doesn't have it, I have to run to a different one, and it might change the timing of dinner or something else. And of course, the always present specter of an emergency, either traffic or medical.

We commute together and I also use the cell as I pull into her work to let her know I've gotten there, as due to traffic or idiots here at the office holding me up, there can be up to an hour's difference from day to day as to when I get there. And then as i'm sitting in the car waiting for her to sign out and get down to the car, I can play games on the phone..

Her folks are in state care back in CT, with her dad being in a special care home (her mom is still at their house, but with a caretaker coming in). She tends to have to be on the phone all the time, at unpredictable hours, dealing with medical employees/emergencies/whatever to manage her dad's care from here. The kinds of things best done in person, but physically can't. And she'll be on the pohone with the care ward on his floor, the state caseworker at their office, and her brother at her folk's house, coordinating care for whatever issue her dad has on any given day. He may fall, or become belligerent (he's 88 years old with alzheimers and freaks out if he doens't know where he is at any given time). or have a reaction to a medication or food. But, he doesn't do that on a schedule that's convenient for her, so if we're in the car or at a store or at a restaruant, then she has to deal with it then, not the next day or even an hour or two later. It bothers you at dinner at the next table for her to get the call? Frankly, I don't care.

How did we survive before cell phones? Many people didn't, as they couldn't get help when needed. You could say the same thing about medicines you don't need right now. We could say the same thing about cars, or houses or electric lights. People survived their whole lives without cars before. And people lived their whole lives in grass roof huts. Just because it could be successfully done doesn't mean it's better. Or that you're more virtuous because that's how you choose to live.

I guess you could call it a love hate relationship. Mostly hate.

I love them when I need to call someone. I hate them when they ring. Texting is out. Not going to happen. I don't read them, I don't send them. The house phone is now the fax line. I give it out to people I don't want to talk to, like sales people. If you are an out of state call, or have a blocked caller ID, leave a message, I'm not going to answer it. As a matter of fact, if it's before 8:00am or after 5:00pm and I don't recognize the number, leave a message. There are even a few people programed in my phone just so I will know to not answer it like the BIL and MIL. My phone is a tool. I have it for my convenience, not everyone elses.

^^^^
Yes, I too have people stored in my phone only for the reason of not answering their calls.

Chris_V wrote: How did we survive before cell phones?

Maybe it comes from my years in the phone industry but I like to watch movies that were made before cell phones were popular and imagine if they just had phones.
The whole "Home Alone" movie series pretty much becomes a moot point if they just had phones.

I was a hold out, I didn't like talking on phones much. But I have caved and have 2 blackberrys, 1 from work (world w/o camera but does have overseas chip in it) and 1 personal (pearl). I usually get calls when I'm driving or in a meeting or just otherwise occupied so I keep the conversation short and too the point and hang up. My daughters have accused me of being mad at them till I explained that. I don't text much. I do however email quite a bit. I've gotten to rely on email since the people I deal with at work are all over the world (some in not so nice areas) and the time difference interferes, email is a simple way that ends up being quicker than playing phone-tag. At home with wife and daughters, I rarely get the phone as it's even rarer to be for me. But if I do want to contact someone, the home phone (kept for emergencies) is usually busy so I either email or use one of my cells. FYI, I'm 51 so us old dogs can partially learn new tricks.

Toyman01 wrote: I guess you could call it a love hate relationship. Mostly hate. I love them when I need to call someone. I hate them when they ring. Texting is out. Not going to happen. I don't read them, I don't send them. The house phone is now the fax line. I give it out to people I don't want to talk to, like sales people. If you are an out of state call, or have a blocked caller ID, leave a message, I'm not going to answer it. As a matter of fact, if it's before 8:00am or after 5:00pm and I don't recognize the number, leave a message. There are even a few people programed in my phone just so I will know to not answer it like the BIL and MIL. My phone is a tool. I have it for my convenience, not everyone elses.

Hmph. That explains a lot.

My kid is 12 and texting is, like, the biggest thing in her life. Next to Ouran High School (some anime series she watches on YouTube), that is. It flips her out that I am not all enamored of texting and that I prefer conversation.

I see a lot of 20 somethings (mostly girls but there are guys as well) driving slowly and erratically, trying to text and also talk to the other person in the car at the same time. They think they are 'multi tasking' when in reality they are doing NOTHING well.

Strange, I hate email and prefer to call or stop by and see them if I need something. I detest text messages, but sometimes its a necessary tool.

But, I have a vintage phone that just does one thing and that is make a phone call. It cannot summon superheroes, solve world hunger or unveil The Stig.

John Brown wrote:

moxnix wrote: I don't like phone calls, I don't like texts, Some days I am not even sure I like talking to people.

I concur.

As do I.

Maybe this "Morse Code" thing might catch on?

Text this, mother-berkleyer!

Well, I can text at work. Can't getaway with talking.

One thing I find interesting is that my upgrade is available christmas day, I will either get a new basic flip phone, or go all the way and get a iPhone. Totally opposite ends of the spectrum. I just want the dyno/performance meter app.

Toyman01 said: My phone is a tool. I have it for my convenience, not everyone elses

Words of wisdom.

Yes.

Seems to be a lot of hate for the phone.

The fact of the matter is, I am appalled by 90% of people's writing skills, and the words that come out of their collective mouths are not much better. Therefore, I use a phone. Texting or e-mailing does not get ideas across properly, and you can not have instantaneous back-and-forth discussions like on a phone.

Do I text? Yes, lots. Do I send e-mails? You bet (too many). But the phone for me will always be king.

I guess for me it's the rudeness quotient. There are times when people just don't need to be in constant communication but some obliviots don't seem to understand that. Then you add in so called 'multi tasking' (which is complete bullE36 M3, multitasking means the perpetrator is doing NOTHING well; witness texting while driving) which came along with those spawn of Satan and I have developed a hatred for the damn things.

I love email and the telephone. I hate texting. I will often respond to a text by calling the person back.

I have a friend that will text me to call him. What is that all about?

Otto_Maddox wrote: What is that all about?

Power and control.

Look what I can make you do.

zomby woof wrote:

Otto_Maddox wrote: What is that all about?

Power and control. Look what I can make you do.

I think you might be a little paranoid. If I text someone to give me a call it's a way to ask them to give me a call at there convienience. If I know it might not be a good time for them but I still need to talk to them it let's them decide when to call. I'm not out to make you do what iwant you to.

Some people are too freaked out by the whole phone thing. If you don't want to answer it, what the berkeley did you give them your number? Most if not all the people who may call me are people I want to talk to. That's why they have my number!!!

Joey