| RavenBlog |
|
| Comments on Wednesday 7 May 2003: |
| Mobile phones are the spawn of nasty. Two of them are regularly left lying around our house, and it seems I'm the only person who can hear the incessant beeping that results when one has been called and a message left. "Someone called for you and left a message! Beep! Someone called for you and left a message! Beep!" Our answering machine doesn't keep beeping when there's a message. Why do mobile phone designers feel this is a necessary attribute? This should at least be restricted to vibration mode, and really shouldn't happen at all. One beep per message, so if you have the phone with you and missed a call you get it, and if you don't have it with you, fucking look what you're doing when you pick it up. Check if you have a message. Ask "did anyone call for me?", don't rely on your electronic friend leaping around hyperactively screaming "THERE WAS A CALL! THERE WAS A CALL!" and fucking keeping me awake because I'm the only person aware of it. The other lovely thing about mobile phones is simply a more virulent subset of the behaviour of ordinary phones; how they take priority over whatever people are doing. Got company in person, someone who drove an hour for your company? Blow them off to talk to some fucker on the phone who wants to whine about their life! This is an especially good thing to do during overtures of foreplay, and really makes people feel special. I'm sure people are thinking "tsk, that's silly, why would anyone stop what they're doing for the phone like that", but seriously, I think most people would. People have a Pavlovian reaction to the ringing of the bell, even though it doesn't provide food. They start going to answer it before they even realise. You see it in sitcoms and dramas all the time; "don't answer it" or "let it ring". Perhaps, then, I should thank the in |
| Eps |
| I defiantly stop when my mobile rings. I then proceed to beat the shit out of it. It normally tends to only ring when I'm trying to do something important or talking to ...some one I like. (I don’t seem to have that sex problem, unfortunately.) If it proceeds to ring I answer it and then end the call. Since it's a nokia it always seems to keep working, which is good for my bank balance. (I play a lot of cricket and footy with it.) As for when you go some where and the person answers the phone, I hate it. I cannot stand it especially if it’s a mobile. Though you must admit that action people have to their mobiles ringing is very funny when you are in a room of 300 and three people’s phones ring at once. You cannot hear the ring correctly so everyone checks if it’s theirs. I can say I was the only one to grab my phone, look at it. Pick a random ring tone for it to start ring and then boot it half way into the hall while yelling “heads!”. Also, there should be a setting that lets you turn off the incoming msg thing. And when people say “let it ring”, I have this bad reaction (if it rings for too long) to go up to it. Pick it up. Wait a few seconds while the usual greeting crap that people say finishes and yell. “Fuck off, can’t you see we aren’t here or that we are ignoring you!?” And then hang up. They never call back. Eps - Um yeah... I guess I need </rant> there. |
| Solistus |
| I refuse to get a cell phone at the moment, I don't want to pay money to talk to idiots, and most people are. If I ever get one, only important people will know my number. I guess I'll just block the caller id info (can you do this on a cell?) so I can call people freely... if I'm paying for it, it should be for MY convenience. |
| C. Copperpot |
| Why is the s in Raven's "insanity" in the last paragraph slashed-out? It's the funk. |
| Tom |
| I'm just glad that after such long term exposure to the US, Raven has not become so inane as to call a mobile phone a cell phone. The Germans call them 'handies'. Trivia is good. Personally, I never answer any sort of phone. Not answering the phone is tremendously liberating. It is important to make sure that it's the phone you're not answering. I did go through a terribly distressing period recently. Somebody turned the volume down to the bare minimum (Why a small mother? Why?) on the phone that lives just outside my bedroom door. This meant that I could never quite be sure if I was ignoring the phone or if bees had invaded my head. |
| Nightshade |
| I've bought a cell (yeah, being Canadian, it's a cell phone to me , not a mobile phone) 'cuz I wanted something with me when my car broke down of the highway. Since then, it has performed this duty admirably 4 times - once when it was 30 below, and once when I had 3 kids stuck in the car with me (my car is not overly reliable. I knew this when I bought my cell). Outgoing calls are what make having a cell worthwhile. I'll admit that I don't tend to answer incoming calls, particularly when busy. It helps that only a small handfull of people know my cell number, so if I miss a call and happen to care, I'll randomly call one of the people on the list of people who know the number and ask "Did you call me?" If I get it right in one, I'll talk. If not, it obviously wasn't important, right? |
| Khandi |
| My last boyfriend broke up with me because I had a phone conversation during sex. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best time for me to call him. On another note, last summer my brother was in the process of buying a 600 dollar stereo component when the phone rang. The salesman decided to give higher priority to the person on the phone and my brother walked out and went elsewhere to do his shopping. I hope the salesman learned his lesson. |
| RavenBlack |
| "The Germans call them 'handies'." A bit of grit on my screen had that reading "the Germans call them 'handles'". That would be so much cooler. |
| Zloduska |
| All this can simply be avoided by doing what I do (or don't, rather): Keep the cell/mobile/handie phone turned completely off at all times unless you actually need to call someone with it. |
| RavenBlack |
| It could be avoided that way if the cellphone was mine. |
| Solistus |
| Sorry Tom, Raven called them cells... |
| RavenBlack |
| But not by default, only in response to a thing where cell appeared first. |
| Mistachel |
| It's strange, but when the phone rings in our apartment, my fiance and I look at each other and wonder who is calling. Everyone we care to talk to knows the numbers for our cell phones. More often than not, the call is from a telemarketer. We never bothered to get caller ID, because the phone only rings twice a week, on average. We decided that when we move at the end of the month to disconnect the phone in the apartment entirely and have only the cell phones. Hell, the people we talk to the most is each other since we're on different schedules. Beyond that, calling my parents at home is nearly impossible these days. I personally hate talking into answering machines, so I rarely leave messages. As for phone conversations during sex: I did that once a few years ago. The sex wasn't very good to begin with, so I didn't feel guilty. I wasn't dating the guy anyway. In this case, the call was more important than the sex I was getting. If that made any sense.... |
| Digi |
| Bah, other people in general annoy me. I'm indifferent as to whether they're annoying me through smelly loudness or ringy beepyness. At least if they're on the phone they're paying for it, and you don't have to listen to the other smelly loud person speaking. They get head cancer as well. However, not answering a noisy phone is a crime. Leaving them switched on and out of earshot is silly. As for sex, meh, it's very nice and all that, but I'd rather have a good conversation (in most cases). Besides, why on earth do you have to stop having sex to answer the phone? I say use it as an aid. |