NEW Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

[Lowie]

Re: NEW Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

I found that all of the contract providers offered voicemail as a free service (i.e., you couldn't get money back by electing not to use it) and allowed unlimited calling to voicemail. Even the pay-as-you-go providers had switched to, or claimed to be switching to, unlimited voicemail calling.

Well I'm in Australia, and it costs to leave a message, and it costs to retrieve it too.

But hearing your point, I hope the companies here head in that direction, then I might consider using voicemail. Might.

Still don't see it as a necessity. I find a great deal of joy sometimes when I'm not contact-able.

And astcell.. very valid point. We're constantly bombarded with new 'must have' technologies, I think sometimes we don't take the time to ask if we really 'must' have it.

[Voltage Spike]

Re: NEW Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

I don't use voicemail. I just see it as a means for the phone company to extract more money out of you and the person calling you.

I'm curious how your plan operates in a way that voicemail costs you money. When I researched companies recently, I found that all of the contract providers offered voicemail as a free service (i.e., you couldn't get money back by electing not to use it) and allowed unlimited calling to voicemail. Even the pay-as-you-go providers had switched to, or claimed to be switching to, unlimited voicemail calling.

Besides, I have found that people will leave much shorter messages than person-to-person calls. They tend to be direct and to-the-point, plus there is the advantage that you usually screen out "just calling to say hi" calls.

[astcell]

Re: NEW Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

How did we manage before cell phones and why can we not manage that way now?

[Lowie]

Re: NEW Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

the flip side of all this seems to be that the public will often react with mild but still somewhat noticeable admiration or happiness when they witness you getting a call and ignoring it in order to continue speaking to them. i'd say i ignore over 50% of the calls i get in general (a lot of that is based on the fact that i let everything go to voicemail when i don't have the calling number in my phone) and that percentage gets higher when i'm talking to anyone...

from a governor to a drive-through window employee, they all get the same treatment. i'd rather deal with the business at hand than interrupt things. pretty much the only parties for whom i will interrupt things and pick up right away are my parents or my girlfriends. everyone else can sit and wait for 3 minutes.

I don't use voicemail. I just see it as a means for the phone company to extract more money out of you and the person calling you.
If it is really important they'll call back. If your number shows up, I'll call you back when appropriate. If it's a private number, well, I've got no idea who it was, so no need to worry.

I think phone etiquette should be similar to general good behaviour policies... If it happened to you, would it piss you off? Then don't do it.

If I'm on a date, the phone is turned off. If you really need to be contact-able, then don't plan a date or outing (with someone who doesn't know you/ what you do) during that time period.

In this world people believe everything has to be done RIGHT NOW. It doesn't... the smart people know this.

Common sense and common decency, two things that, ironically, are not very common.

I think people cling to their devices to somehow feel important? (feel free to disagree)

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: NEW Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

If ... your phone rings and you want to answer it, you are telling me that ANY and EVERY person in the world is more important

see, that's a very valid thought process, but i think it's not shared by everyone. most folk in this world seem to instantly whip out the phone in the same way they'll bring up their email client if they hear an incoming message sound. the reaction seems to be sort of "oooh... a new present, what's inside?!?" and they consistently fail to realize that most phone calls (in my opinion) are wastes of time talking to dumb people about nothing at all.

the flip side of all this seems to be that the public will often react with mild but still somewhat noticeable admiration or happiness when they witness you getting a call and ignoring it in order to continue speaking to them. i'd say i ignore over 50% of the calls i get in general (a lot of that is based on the fact that i let everything go to voicemail when i don't have the calling number in my phone) and that percentage gets higher when i'm talking to anyone...

from a governor to a drive-through window employee, they all get the same treatment. i'd rather deal with the business at hand than interrupt things. pretty much the only parties for whom i will interrupt things and pick up right away are my parents or my girlfriends. everyone else can sit and wait for 3 minutes.

P.S. - oooh... here's something i hate and i take pains to not do myself. have you ever called someone, gotten their voicemail (no crime in that), and then proceeded to leave a detailed message covering the information that you wanted to convey to them in the conversation... only to have them call back one minute later and say "oh, i saw i just missed your call. i was [eating a burrito / walking the dog / using the head / getting head / etc] and couldn't pick up. what did you need?"

at that point you ask something to which you already know the answer unfortunately... "yeah, i called about the plans for this week. i left you a message, did you get it?"

and of course they didn't listen to it. they just called and want you to reiterate the whole damn thing over again. sometimes they add insult to injury and say something like "oh yeah, i saw my phone blinking so i knew you'd left a message and thus i thought it was something important so i called you right back"

ugh. half the time when i leave a message i take pains to be as detailed and informative as possible so that the person doesn't have to call me back. i give them all the news they need (dates, times, people's phone numbers, drink preferences, whatever) so they can save the voicemail, replay it later as much as they like, and not take any more time out of my day. but instead i wind up just repeating it all into their ear, five minutes later, and then following that up with a conversation wherein they try to keep it all straight...

"so, karen won't be at the company party? but jen will be? ... and i forget, is she the one who likes vodka or whiskey? ... is there a dress code? ... oh, right. ... yeah, i probably would like to borrow that sweater." etc etc etc

fucking technology... it makes the lives of smart, efficient people better and easier. it makes the lives of foolish or slow people all the more catastrophic... with the same spillover to the rest of us that we've experienced since the beginning of civilization.

[astcell]

Re: NEW Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

If we are off duty and you and I are talking, and your phone rings and you want to answer it, you are telling me that ANY and EVERY person in the world is more important than the talk you are having with me. So I will leave you with your phone call and walk away.

Nowadays we can have special rings for certain people, and we have voice mail, and most calls can wait another 2-3 minutes.

[Z^2]

Re: NEW Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

My phone scares me. I abandon it for days at a time because we have a hate/hate relationship.

Of course, I don't have a particularly important job, and people know that if they really have to get in contact with me they can find me online because I'm on better terms with my computer(s).

[DaKahuna]

Re: NEW Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

I guess it is what ever works for you. My personal cell phone stays in my car and the number if call forwarded to my Blackberry Perl.

The Perl is set to vibrate for calls and only audio alert I get is for voice mail and that is one beep. I live in a three story townhouse and my Perl has never been on the 3rd floor where the bed rooms are. It is either on my desk on the ground floor or on the dining room table on the middle floor. All the family knows to call me on the home phone if it is an emergency as I will not hear the Perl no matter what and remember - 2300 it turns itself off automatically.

[audit]

Re: Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

I disagree and I have my pearl programmed to shut down every night at 2300 (11 PM for your that can't count to 24) and turn on at 0600 Monday - Friday and at 0800 Saturday and Sunday.

If it wasn't for us only having cell phones and we had a home phone then I would go back to the auto shut off but due to personal reason's, my phone can't be off in case I need to be reached for an emergency.

I also have it set so that email only from my boss, my bosses executive admin, and the two guys that work for me are the only emails that cause it to vibrate.

I have Level 1 message filters setup on my BIS and BES accounts so e-mails from my boss and family beep with a VERY Loud tone, then it wakes me up when I put it on vibrate in the middle of the night. The only time I get e-mails at night is if something is down hard and someone needs to reach me.

I did way to many years in operations waking up the in the middle of the night to the sound of a phone or pager to do that all over again. If somebody wants me, they get me on my terms, not theirs.

That's why I have Level 1 messages setup in my profiles on my Crackberry. I put it on Phone only mode in the middle of the night and have filters setup so the only time the phone will ring is if it's from certain numbers. Otherwise I get e-mails and I can count on 1 hand the number of times I've been woken up from Level 1 messages since I've been at this company almost 2 years now.

[TheCotMan]

Re: NEW Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

Ok then. Took some work, but here we go. Added the sex options, and 1 funny selection too.

I'll copy other posts from the other thread to this one, and close that old one.

The poll options i had hoped to create were a bit prolix but i thought they covered all the bases. (I was wrong, of course, since i didn't have a category regarding sex)

Here's what I had hoped to post...

Ringers - Any volume is ok where talking is allowed
Ringers - Phones should be set to vibrate, both in theaters and other public places like restaurants
Ringers - Even vibrate alerts are distracting, phones should be set totally silent

Calls in Restaurants - Same as talking to neighbor at the table, talking on a phone is fine
Calls in Restaurants - You should can answer short calls but take longer calls outside
Calls in Restaurants - If you have to speak, get your ass out to the lobby (don't start the call on the way)
Calls in Restaurants - You shouldn't getup to take/make calls unless they're a total emergency

SMS in Restaurants - It's a better option than making calls, SMS is fine
SMS in Restaurants - It's not as obnoxious as calling, but your friends still don't like when you do it
SMS in Restaurants - SMS is just as rude as making phone calls and should be for emergencies only

Calls in Theaters - You should can answer short calls but take longer calls outside
Calls in Theaters - If you have to speak, get your ass out to the lobby (don't start the call on the way)
Calls in Theaters - It's rude and distracting even getting up, if you expect emergency calls sit on an aisle in the back

SMS in Theaters - It's a better option than making calls, SMS is fine since it doesn't distract.
SMS in Theaters - In a darkened room, screen glow can be distracting. One Shouldn't TXT at all.

[DaKahuna]

Re: Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

As do I, I think they were intended to always be on, its an extra 12 steps to power the thing off. I think I have turned my phone *off* OFF all of 4 times since I have had it. I am a crackberry lover though, I don't regret parting ways with the MDA, HTC, Sidekick, Etc. I love my pearl.

I disagree and I have my pearl programmed to shut down every night at 2300 (11 PM for your that can't count to 24) and turn on at 0600 Monday - Friday and at 0800 Saturday and Sunday.

I also have it set so that email only from my boss, my bosses executive admin, and the two guys that work for me are the only emails that cause it to vibrate.

I did way to many years in operations waking up the in the middle of the night to the sound of a phone or pager to do that all over again. If somebody wants me, they get me on my terms, not theirs.

[Nikita]

Re: Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

heh... since you didn't quote any specific portion of the above conversation, i wasn't sure whether you were speaking literally or making a sexual allusion.

I was thinking the same thing! It forced me to recall a certain time period in my life when I instructed my would be suiters that if the phone rang, I had to ANSWER. No matter what. And I did....Man I was an ahole. I was tied to my phone, sms, calls, emails, IM. I was paid WAY too little to answer the phone in the midst of passionate throws but The sex was dull anyway. :-P

I've grown since then and updated ALL my equipment. wink wink, nudge nudge, hint hint, get it squire.

I have a crackberry so it's on 24/7/365.

As do I, I think they were intended to always be on, its an extra 12 steps to power the thing off. I think I have turned my phone *off* OFF all of 4 times since I have had it. I am a crackberry lover though, I don't regret parting ways with the MDA, HTC, Sidekick, Etc. I love my pearl.

[audit]

Re: Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

I have a crackberry so it's on 24/7/365.
Sleeping it goes to Phone Only mode,
Movies, vibrate
Sex, I'm married so that went out the window.
Restaurant, vibrate

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

One day I was the asshole who answered the phone in the middle of a transaction

heh... since you didn't quote any specific portion of the above conversation, i wasn't sure whether you were speaking literally or making a sexual allusion. All the more hilarious to have one's boyfriend calling if it was the latter.

How's that old joke go? "What's a guaranteed way to make your spouse howl when you're making love? Call them up and tell them who you're with."

[DJ Jackalope]

Re: Cel Phone Use... What Do You Consider Appropriate? (poll)

One day I was the asshole who answered the phone in the middle of a transaction, it was my bf who I told I would call right back. It was at a cell phone store, too.