Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Cell Phones - Love/Hate

I remember long ago when I got my first cell phone. I was so excited. We were quick to jump on the new technology bandwagon. It wasn't as if we were the first to get a cell phone. My grandparents had one before me. But their cell was the kind you attached to your car and only... and I do mean only... use for emergencies. You didn't talk long and it nearly cost an arm and a leg.

When I got mine, it was at the beginning of the trend. It was when it started to become the new toy. People had them so they could be reachable at all times. And we thought - isn't that wonderful.
Do you remember these? Oh how much have cell phones
changed since they first came out!

Now that I have been a part of the population of cell phone owners, I realize how irritating cell phones really has become. Now everybody has a cell phone. Which isn't the reason I hate cell phones. I could care less if I hear people talking on them in public. In fact, sometimes I find it interesting what they even say. I don't even mind that the owners of cell phones keep getting younger and younger. Pretty soon they will hand you a cell before they cut the umbilical cord. Can you imagine?
Waaaahhh
Awe... what's up baby?
Boob please...
Ok, so babies can't talk so it wouldn't really work like that! But if it did it would be funny! Now your laughing because you know you painted a picture in your mind of the baby and the cell phone!

The thing is, cell phones have made it so you are constantly available. Obviously you are busy if you call the house and get the answering machine. Now we carry our phones on us. So with that responsibility comes the necessity to be available. Yet - is that really the case?

Now for me personally, I hate talking on the phone. (My teenage self would be beating me up right now for even thinking this!) I also know that any kind of "work" I do revolves around home. So that means I am pretty much always available. So when I hear my phone ring, I am usually quick to run to it and quick to respond. And if I am busy, you can expect an answer in a timely matter.

Whatever you do - please wait to answer your phone
until after you are done!
I guess that is what makes me annoyed with this whole cell phone era - others don't feel the same exact way or do the same exact thing. Now I am not suggesting you should be available 24/7 if you have a cell phone, but there are timelines when it comes to responding. Sure, you might not be available if you are at work. You might even miss a phone call if you have company (and I applaud you for not taking it in their presence - that would be rude!) And it is also appropriate to sleep - us humans need to do that. So anybody that expects you to take a phone call during normal sleeping hours is being unrealistic. We also should touch on bathrooms... no need to answer there either. I can wait it out!

But seriously, we know you check your phone regularly. For most of us, the phone is just like another appendage. So why is it that phone calls never get returned in a timely matter, if they get returned at all? How can you receive a text and not respond back to a question. While an immediate response might not always be necessary, it is just common courtesy to respond back. If you don't, the other person might assume that their message was either never received, or that you are avoiding them! Or maybe that getting back to them just isn't a priority.

It is just funny how cell phones really have changed the world these days. We can't seem to leave the house without them for fear that an emergency will come up when we are out. Yet, even though we all have cell phones and they are usually on us 95 percent of the time, there are so many out there who are unavailable every single time you try to get a hold of them. Don't you find this annoying too?

I just don't get it. If you aren't going to use your cell phone for what it is meant for - communication - then why do you even bother to have one in the first place?

10 comments:

  1. Yes. Thank you very much. I join your rant!

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    1. Man - I was so irritated today... I hate talking on the phone yet the one day I need to get a hold of people no one wants to answer! I swear it can just get so damn frustrating!

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  2. I have one, but only 5 ppl on the planet have the number. :) Most of the time, I even forget to take it with me anywhere. Good rant! Loved it. Shared. hehehehe

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    1. Well, at least the 5 people that have it know that you don't rely on it so if they can't get a hold of you the know it's probably because you get no reception in the middle of no where! ;) Ha ha! It is just irritating when people you see that are attached to the hip with their cell phone never seem to pick it up! Thanks for the share! :)

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  3. THANK YOU!!!! People who talk in the toilet cubicle on their phone, or the ones that have to check it all the time in case they miss something are annoying. And what's with all the little kids getting phones these days?! You're right - people are too available. It's ridiculous. Good for emergencies, but it's getting out of hand!

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  4. I hate talking on the phone too, so I'm right there with you on this rant! I don't give out my cell number much, that way if it rings I know it's something (or someone) I need to talk to.
    I do like being able to check FB and look up random things online when i am stuck waiting somewhere. It's keeps me amused.
    Talking in the bathroom cube though? ewww! I don't know that I've ever noticed that (I walk around in my own little world it seems) but that's just wrong! :)

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  5. OH cell phones...you can't live with 'em and you can't live without 'em. I definitely have to be in the mood before I'll talk on the phone. We have a metal roof and the cell phone signal doesn't penetrate it, so we either have to go outside or contort ourselves over the kitchen sink and hang the phone out the window and put it on speaker so we can even hear the person. Since it's that much of a chore, I don't talk on the phone much. LOL. Texting is nice in this case. :D

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  6. Ok, I have the IPhone and end up using it only to talk on the actual phone to my husband and my parents/in-laws when they watch my kids, but am one of those persons that probably does use it more for FB and Twitter (social networks), but do I actually look at it when I am home, no! Why you ask? Because my two kids are constantly playing games on it. Even as I type this my 2 year old is using the Easy Bake Oven app!! Seriously loved you first line about babies being handed one right after birth, because never would I have imagined in my youth that my 2 year old would have more interest in my phone then me, lol!!

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  7. I have had huge issues since I got the "smart" phone. It only stays charged for a few hours at a time - and it's a pain...half the time it just randomly starts doing it's own thing! Dave said he's switching me back to the iPhone as soon as my contracts up.

    I've seriously come to not even depend on it and I use the house phone more now. Sucks! I have a stupid phone!

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  8. I hate it that we are always so accessible now--can't I just disappear for a while--rebel that I am, I leave my phone at home sometimes---

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