Telephones annoy the hell out of me these days.

[daedalus_dude]

As useful as they may be in emergencies and for long-distance conversations, their abundant presence in everyday life totally get on my nerves.

Not only are they everywhere, people also expect you to carry an activated one at all times. And from my experience, many people expect that, if they call you, you at that very moment are ready to stop whatever it is you are doing and have a ten minute conversation, and get offended if you cut them off.
And people complain if your cellphone is switched off for an extended period of time.

And people think that, because everyone has a phone, that gives them the right to re-negotiate appointments at short-notice at all times.

People talk on them while driving and cause wrecks. Or they sit next to you on a train and have a loud conversation about the details of their private life that you wish they would keep to themselves. Teenagers use them to play their annoying shit-music right next to you, and of course, everything you do is recorded on cell-cam.

And if you are talking to someone and their phone rings, somehow the phone instantly becomes more important than whatever it was you were talking about, and they find it perfectly fine to stop talking to you in order to have a ten-minute conversation about some shit with whoever it is that is calling.

I know all of this is a blessing because of the possibilities, but I think its also sometimes a curse.

I like the internet, and I think email is a good way to communicate most of the time. It is polite, because you leave it up to the recipient when, or if, they want to answer.

:rant:

[MinneapolisMatt]

1. I like how you think.

:)

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. My favorites are the ones who force you to listen to their up

volume private conversations. They won't walk away out of earshot, they won't tone it down, they wallow in the fact that they are on the phone and your're not. They disgust me... rude they are, very very rude.

[snagglepuss]

16. Totally agree. Sometimes I have been tempted in a cafe where this is happening

to start reading my newspaper aloud and just as loudly as someone is speaking on the phone. Really what is the difference?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

29. A new meme..... "Cell Rage".... not to be confused with the movie

Stir Crazy.

[Liberal_in_LA]

84. Yep, that's the worst behavior...the shouted conversation

[vadawg]

3. lol i so understand you, i cant believe the people who whilst i am talking to them answer their cel

cellphone, then proceed to give a detailed description of whats happening and then they are surprised when i stop lecturing them and just issue the ticket instead.

[raccoon]

21. Good for you! nt

[vadawg]

43. yup im sorry but your time is not more important than my time is what i tell people

but i love when they call their influential friend and then try to get me totake the phone to get them out of the stick they are in. Like im going to take the phone and that im going to listen to some guy on the end of the line telling me hes the fbi director and that im going to do as he asks.... there are a lot of idiots out there...

[dana_b]

88. oh wow!

it's hard to believe that some people are that stupid! jeez - I'm speechless.

[slackmaster]

4. A friend and I got a good laugh recently while drinking beer in his kitchen

A young woman walked by his house with a phone glued to her ear. She said, loudly:

"I was on birth control, but I'm not sure that caused my OCD."

A few minutes later she walked by in the other direction. This time, she let out this burst of meaningfulness:

"He was all trying to control me, and blah blah blah blah blah, and I was like all, whatever."

We laughed for the next 15 minutes.

[driver8]

5. I agree with you 100%!

I carry a cell phone in my car for emergencies, and that's about it. I have no need to be connected to the world 24/7. People are amazed when I tell them that I don't even know my cell phone number, or that I don't have their number "programmed" into my phone.

Those of you walking around with your earpieces in and talking to yourselves -- you look like idiots.

[Coventina]

9. I don't have texting on my cell phone, something that bamboozles

most of my friends/family.

[driver8]

12. I have never sent a text in my life -- most people can't believe that. n/t

[snagglepuss]

18. +1

[ThatsMyBarack]

28. That's okay, neither have I!

I probably never will! ;)

[rationalcalgarian]

35. Never have

Not sure what a "text message" is, exactly. Nor do I care.

[dysfunctional press]

87. neither have i.

and no intention/desire to do so.

[unpossibles]

23. I prefer texting because I can tell someone something at my discretion and quietly

It's email in my pocket as far as I am concerned.

I don't stay glued to it, and I am not a phone person nor a constant texter or whatever, but I do think it's more handy and more polite to those around than a phone conversation. That said, unless it's an emergency or otherwise important, I don't answer phone or text when having a conversation with someone.

[Toasterlad]

52. Love Texting, Hate the Phone.

I don't want anybody listening to my personal business, and I damn sure don't want to listen to theres, so I hate cell phones...but I DO like texing. Very convenient.

[CurtEastPoint]

14. I passed two of those 'talking to no one, apparently' earpiece-heads in the store this morning.

If they could only see themselves and how ridiculous they look.

The phone is a convenience, not a ruling factor in your life...or it should be, anyway. IMHO.

[JBoy]

61. You mean DoucheTooths!

[MilesColtrane]

86. I actually saw a guy with a Bluetooth in his earhole at a MEMORIAL SERVICE.

I couldn't figure out if he was actually expecting a call, or if he just thought it was some kind of status/fashion statement.

Either way, he was a fucknozzle.

[dana_b]

89. that's bad

although it reminds me of the Repub. idiot who was texting during the President's health care speech to Congress.

[NoUsername]

91. Obviously, he must be really important.

Or at least he wants other people to think he is. At a memorial service of all things. Un-fucking-real.

I saw a guy wearing one of those at a high-end audio store awhile back. Now, the purpose of going to a high-end audio store is to shop for/listen to REALLY nice stereo equipment and in order to be able to judge what you're hearing, you need to have both ears unobstructed. Anyway, after he left, I was chatting with one of the guys that worked there (I go there a lot and I know him well) and the conversation went something like this:

Him: <eyeroll> "That guy always wears that thing."
Me: "Why? He's in an audio store. You can't really hear accurately with that thing blocking your ear."
Him: "Well, apparently he thinks it makes him seem important."
Me: "Hell, if he was really THAT important, he'd have someone taking his damn calls for him."
Both he and the owner of the place cracked up: "Exactly!"

Wearing a Bluetooth at an audio store: douchebag.

Wearing a Bluetooth at a memorial service. Complete and total fucknozzle.

[Warpy]

6. The phone company gave me all their services

and I've just never bothered to set them up. I really don't need them. All I have is a land line, what the hell do I need call forwarding for?

I'm with you, I'd much rather communicate via email.

[SoCalDem]

70. My friends know that I usually turn the ringer off on my landline

and I rarely check messages, so they come and visit me instead :evilgrin:

[Coventina]

7. I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter!

K & R !

[ret5hd]

10. He will twitter it to you.

[Coventina]

13. LOL!

:thumbsup:

[leftstreet]

17. I just made him my FaceTwitBookSpace Friend n/t

[HereSince1628]

8. No cell phone, no need to answer the phone, no appointments

to make or break, no commutes on public transit.

Having those things would mean being an active member of society.

Maybe that is your problem more than the cell phone.

Have you been evaluated for a tendency toward schizoid or avoidant personality disorders?

Recent reseach suggests that lots of schizoids and avoidants love the internet both for it's anonymity, and the access it gives while still remaining solitary.

[enlightenment]

15. Get a grip.

There are plenty of people who lead active lives without being plugged into a communication device 24/7. Believe it or not, they are able to function without the constant connection to a mobile. They know how to communicate in a variety of ways and they don't need an electronic teat to protect them from actual face-to-face interaction with society.

[HereSince1628]

26. Hmm, I didn't mean to say that one couldn't live without them

Just meant to be sarcastic about how all these symptoms are indiciative of the OP's apparent unhappiness with being part of of the redqueen's world.

Getting a grip is great advice.

[snagglepuss]

20. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" Just how do you think people lived

prior to cell phones? Surely jumping to such conclusions without any basis in fact is indicative of a mental illness.:eyes:

[rvablue]

30. Ha, ha. You reveal yourself with this mean, scathing retort to OP.

FYI: Whether you believe it or not, when you are out in public yammering on and on about the petty, ridiculous details of your life on your cell phone, you are annoying everyone within earshot and revealing yourself as a self-absorbed dolt.

[HereSince1628]

64. Yes, but, I don't have or want a cell phone,

Because I wouldn't be using a cell phone I couldn't reveal anything about my doltishness by the use of said personal communications device. Of course, that wouldn't preclude me from revealing my doltishness through many other possible dolt defining behaviors that don't involve my personal cell phone use.

I don't disagree that when "others" (by which I mean those Snopesy noisy neighbors with no awareness of their proximity to others) conduct conversations (in person, or on a cell phone) in a manner that impinges onto the personal space of others isn't good etiquette, neither is smoking in public, using raunchy perfumes, acting impatiently in a checkout queue for old people to self bag their purchases, or eating pumpkin seeds and spitting out the hulls. I don't think I said or implied that such invasions of personal space are never annoying.

My original reply failed, perhaps as an epic fail, in attempting to sarcastically point out that it may not be cell phone issues that bother the OP, but a stressful life full of interruptions, shifting appointments, and commuting by public transportation. If you look, the OPs complaints include more than simple concerns about noisy public cell phone use.

Is it really such a gigantic leap to the possibility that the OP's irritation might be predicated not so much on rude cell phone use as the possibility that his stress is caused by the stresses of existence (and perhaps a particularly stressing day) in a world that demands being immersed in personal interactions that frequently are outside an individual's control? And, additionally that such stresses are felt more strongly by certain personality types that prefer less social engagement?

[Hepburn]

11. Call waiting....

....grrr....:grr:

Unless it is a mega important call for busines, medical reasons, etc., it bugs the hell out of me to be talking to someone and they click off to take the other call. Yes, some calls are more important than chatting and we all understand that ~~ but it's the other shit that is rude. Now with caller waiting caller ID, it gets real annoying.

[imdjh]

39. I usually squeeze the phone which makes it shut up. The funny thing is....

.... that when I cancel the ringer while I am with someone else, rather than be rude and take a nonemergency call, the person I am with usually asks who it was I was blowing off.

[roody]

71. Hang up on them.

[GodlessBiker]

19. Remember when the phone would ring and the whole house would yell, "I'll get it!" Now, it's like...

we all say, "Who the hell is that and why are they bothering us!"

[NoUsername]

93. I thought I was the only one that does that.

Except my response is a bit more strongly worded. ;)

Invariably the phone rings either the minute I walk in the door and/or right when I'm in the middle of cooking supper. I always let it go the machine and 9 times out of 10, it's a damn telemarketer. Yeah, that whole "Do not call" list thingy is really working out well. At least Heather from "card services" and the car warranty people haven't been bothering me since they got shut down awhile back so that has cut down on it some. When they get rid of the rest of them, maybe I will think about answering my phone again. Maybe.

Yeah, the ol' race for the phone and who "gets" to answer it is long gone. Kinda sad when you think about it. What used to be the eager anticipation of "Hey, I wonder who's calling me?" has transformed into "Dammit, leave me alone!" And we have no one but telemarketers to thank for that change.

[MercutioATC]

22. It's only a problem to the agree you allow it.

I carry an iPhone. I have the entire world in my pocket.

That doesn't mean that I have to be plugged in if I choose not to be.


Voicemail is your friend :)

[flying rabbit]

32. +1

although mine is a G1.
:toast:

[Joe Fields]

24. Highly recommended!!!! My sentiments, exactly.

Every state in the union should have laws banning the use of cell phones. I drive for a living, and I can tell you some horror stories concerning people I've witnessed using cell phones while driving.

I have never owned a cell phone and do not plan to ever own one. In my day there were phone booths on street corners and in gas stations. I hate what telephones have become.

[quiet.american]

25. I hate cell phones, too. Or, more specifically, the lack of manners in using them.

I've come to accept it's probably a generational thing; those coming up behind me have largely grown up in the era of cell phones and "open privacy," and this all seems to be fine with them. Yet when I look around me at how "wired" everyone is today, I'm amazed at how willingly the public follows a "herd" mentality.

Yesterday in a subway car, a person next to me was deep into her cellphone -- playing solitaire. Two other people stood by the subway car doors deep into their cellphones. As we exited the car, I noticed they, too, had been playing solitaire.

When I transferred to my next train, I sat next to a woman who was -- you got it, deep into her cellphone playing solitaire. Again, two other people standing at the car doors were also playing solitaire. A guy re-positioned himself in the car and ended up standing next to me, and -- you got it-- he was on his cellphone playing solitaire. Down the length of the car, almost everyone else was wired into their ipods, and each one's earbuds were emitting supremely ANNOYING sound leakage, with their wearers blissfully standing around pretending it hasn't occurred to them that they're immensely annoying the "unwired" around them with their shite music (as the OP so aptly put it.) I looked down the length of the car and maybe there were six or seven people in it who weren't wired. (Being wired isn't a bad thing in itself, but looking down the length of the car, it was almost Twilight Zone-ish, in that almost everyone in the car was hooked up to something.)

Now on to actual cell phones -- yesterday, I heard someone across the street yelling crap about her boyfriend -- I thought she was yelling up to someone in an apartment building -- but she was on a damn cellphone and you could hear her nonsense literally down the whole length of the street.

I've bitched for years about how literally, every single day, there are people left and right, back and front of me yap, yap, yapping away -- and what is it with women when they get on the bus (full disclosure: I'm a woman). The minute she sits down, out comes the cell phone. I never knew people had so much to say to each other ALL THE TIME.

Let's not even get into being out with a friend; if our time together is somehow not interrupted by he/she whipping out their cell phone and staring pensively at its touchscreen, the first moment that there is some kind of "break" -- like ordering another round of drinks -- out comes the cell phone.

I do have a cellphone -- but don't try reaching me on it; people are shocked when they breathlessly inform me they've been trying to reach me on my cellphone and I tell them I always keep it turned off (and only a few people have the number anyway)-- and no -- none of them were ever trying to reach me for anything vitally important, that they couldn't just leave me a voicemail on. I use my cellphone maybe a half-dozen times a year, and when I do, I keep it short and try not to end up yap, yap, yapping away in someone's ear.

Boy was this a long rant and I could probably keep going for another ten paragraphs. Thanks to the OP for the chance to commiserate.

[snagglepuss]

44. Great rant and the parts about being surrounded by people deep into solitaire is hysterical.

Your post completely describes my feelings about them. My phone stays off, people can leave a message which worked for years before cells became commomplace.


:hi:

[quiet.american]

50. Cheers, snagglepuss! :)

:hi:

[surrealAmerican]

48. Twenty years ago, those solitaire players ...

... would have been doing the crossword or reading something. I don't see that as a particularly rude subway behavior.

Those loud conversations and noise from headphones are another issue entirely.

[quiet.american]

49. No, I agree with you -- I don't think that part's rude either -- just "herd." nt

[ThatsMyBarack]

27. THIS annoys me the most:

And if you are talking to someone and their phone rings, somehow the phone instantly becomes more important than whatever it was you were talking about, and they find it perfectly fine to stop talking to you in order to have a ten-minute conversation about some shit with whoever it is that is calling.

Sometimes I'll be brave enough to say how rude that is, and the other person will give me a dirty look like I'M the one being rude! :mad:

[snagglepuss]

41. Very true. nt

[pipi_k]

31. I keep forgetting how to use certain functions...

that's how infrequently I actually use it, although whenever I leave the house I do turn it on.

What makes me laugh is when I'm watching someone on TV (at the scene of an accident or maybe at a sporting function, whatever) talking on a cell phone and making sure the video camera is getting them doing it. Like...LOOK AT ME!!! I have a cell phone!!! And I'm popular because I'm talking on my cell phone!

Although most of the time when I see these people, they don't look like they're talking to anyone.

Maybe they're just pretending to be talking so they can look important on TV.

:rofl:

[goclark]

33. I agree ~ I have a friend that rarely answers her phone

She never really says "Sorry that I didn't get back to you" but I've
noticed that usually when that happens O'm not calling with an emergency.

Now I've started doing it. I don't pick up the phone inless I see the ID and it is someone that I MUST talk to immediately.

I hear the voice and the reason for the call. I don't have time to just chat whenever someone thinks they have the time to talk to ME.

It is so much better now that I screen my calls.

I leave this message on my home voice mail:

"Hello, please leave a detailed message here and I will get back to you ASAP.You may try my cell but I rarely answer it - please leave your message here!"

I too like email better - it is quick and to the point.

[Obamanaut]

37. I have a cell phone that I carry with me on the bicycle or motorcycle.

It has only been turned on twice in six months. My family doesn't understand why it is never on. I have explained that when out riding for pleasure, a telephone detracts from that.

[rvablue]

34. What is going to happen when they allow them on airplanes?

The flight attendants' union is squarely against it, for very understandle reasons, but, of course, the wireless companies want it. Hopefully, they will fail.

Can you imagine, being stuck on 6 hour flight, sitting 5 inches away from someone and they are going on and on and on about who knows what?

[Coventina]

53. I predict fistfights or worse. n/t

[snagglepuss]

54. Can you imagine someone phobic about flying speaking endlessly on a

phone about their fears - how many planes go down, strange noises, terror threats, suspicious passengers. Worse than tlking to someone beside them because people speak so much louder on cell phones. No wonder flights attendents are opposed.

[RaleighNCDUer]

36. People don't expect that of me. I've made it very clear to anyone who

knows me that I do not and will not own a cell phone. If they call me on my home phone, they can talk if I'm there, or leave a message. If, while talking, I find out they are calling while driving, I cut them off and tell them to call back when they are not driving.

Humanity got by without cell phones just fine for 50,000 years. There is no reason they should be indispensable now.

[imdjh]

38. Bruce! I didn't know your cheap ass was on DU.

You see Bruce, for years I have paid for the convenience and accessibility of having a cellphone. Since 1989 to be precise. And you have never once complained that I wasn't there for you, now have you? You have called me to chat, called me to ask my advice, called me for research you could have done yourself. You have called me to ask for a traffic report, to ask me to pick something up for you, to ask me if it's raining. Yes, you have called me to ask me if it is raining... and I have been there.

You, on the other hand, have only had a cell phone for the last ten years or so. You went cheap. You bought a plan that is cheap per month, and makes you afraid to dial, to answer, to pick up the phone because you pay some outrageous amount per minute and you always have. That's because you didn't buy your phone to be accessible, completely in keeping with your character, or lack thereof, you bought your phone and plan so that you can reach me when you want to, and then turn it off.

So yes, Bruce, I am the one screaming into your voice mail, "What the FUCK IS THE POINT OF HAVING A CELL PHONE IF YOU DON"T HAVE IT TURNED ON?"

That would be me.

[hfojvt]

58. right Bruce.

Sometimes people ask me if I have a cell phone and I tell them that I do not worship the anti-Christ.

Just try dialing 666 on your cellphone and you can talk directly to Satan :tinfoilhat:

[barbtries]

75. rec the post

i didnt know there were cell phones in 1989.

[Tesha]

103. Well, my 1991 Audi had one built in. (NT)

[arikara]

92. You are enabling Bruce's bad habits

by picking up the phone every time. Let it go to voice mail.

Or if its like my cell phone there is no voice mail and I don't give a hoot because nobody has the number except 2 family members who don't call to chat, and I pay $10 per month for the minor convenience of having the device.

[Mopar151]

40. Pretty simple for me

Everybody I see talkin' on a cell looks pretty pissed off - life is too short for that shit.

[azmouse]

42. I just love watching the idiots at ballgames spend all their time on the phone.

They paid big dollars for tickets and then sit there playing games on the damn thing or talking. :eyes: Why bother going to the game? They could play with their gadgets at home.

Or when watching the game at home on the tv, I see someone with a phone up to their ear waving toward the camara obviously saying to the person on the other end of the line, "Can you see me?" Yep. Everyone sees you, :eyes: and you look like an idiot.

[snagglepuss]

51. "everyone sees you, you looklike an idiot"

:spray:

[Posteritatis]

65. Faked conversations in public are my favorite

You know the type, some guy talking in Generic Powerful Businessman Type Voice into the wrong end of a cell phone about the multiquadrillion-dollar deal he just closed, or some wannabe gangsta pretending to set up a hit, etc. I come across one or two of those a year and they never fail to amuse me.

[imdjh]

96. My cousin does that occasionally, to fend off publics. I simply tell people to leave me alone.

I love getting older. When I was in my 20's I wouldn't have dreamed of telling a stranger to "Get away from me." Now I do it with some regularity.

[pipi_k]

101. One of the good things about getting older...

I was just talking with someone about this the other day.

Older people can...and should...be able to get away with more stuff like that.

We have earned the right to tell someone off or just be outrageous.

Like I used to tell my MIL (who was 83 when I first joined the family), "Shoot, girl...you're old enough to do what you want...just tell everybody to go piss off". Even more so as she got older and her doctor had her eating fucking rabbit food that not even a rabbit would want. What the hell???

She's 90 whatever years old... eating rabbit food isn't going to get her to 100 if she is frail anyway. I told her to eat whatever the hell she wants to and enjoy it. So Mr Pip and I would bring her big honking dinners from the Chinese place. Yum yum.

In the end, she didn't die from a lousy diet. She died from a broken hip. I'm glad she got to enjoy her last years.

Um, a bit off the track...sorry....but anyway, yeah...sometimes it's good to be older

:7

[Reader Rabbit]

69. My favorites are the people in grocery store aisle, asking whoever what they should buy.

I feel like screaming, "It's called a shopping list, you pathetic fuck!"

[barbtries]

76. oops my bad

do it all the time. cocoa or fruity pebbles? iced tea or root beer? just a mommy aiming to please. :shrug:

[boppers]

81. "Honey, you wrote down 'strawberry spread' on the shopping list.."

"..did you want Jam, Jelly, or Preserves? Any specific brand?"

That's a real grocery store conversation I had, sometimes shopping lists are useless.

[imdjh]

95. Guilty. "Mom, they don't have Lite Caesar, would you like Lite Creamy Caesar?"

I have a list. I also have an 82 year old mother, who writes illegibly, beautifully but illegibly.

[1776Forever]

45. Yes Yes Yes - A thousand times YES!

I think the phone has become a status symbol to some people and they think it is cool to disrupt the privacy area of other individuals! I also like the people with the ear phones that start talking and look right at you like they are talking to you and turn around and let you see the phone on their ear!

I also think email is the way to go but you should be respectful enough to check it daily and answer it when needed! Some people fail to do this and it amazes me how some business people do not check these and answer in a timely manner!

Thanks for posting!

[tranche]

46. Did you just wake up 10 years ago?

These are arguments I was hearing a decade ago. Hadn't heard it come up in quite some time. Thanks for the laugh.

[Echo In Light]

47. Don't own or use cell phones, and never will

[blues90]

55. I would have never got one at all if our landline did not keep

going out for weeks on end and of course now it's not just the phone comp but cable and all sorts of others that are involved to deal with to find the actual problem.

I leave mine off and only use it to contact my wife or so she can contact me and I don't have a camera or text , just a phone with a normal ring.

I saw people years ago on their cell walking their dog or leaning agaist areas in store aisles as if this now was their own personal phone booth of in checkout lines they answer while holding up the entire line . In fact I cannot think of a line anywhere I've been in or any place where the first thing that comes out is their damn cell phone.

[skypilot]

56. The whole cell phone thing is so bizarre to me.

I still own a land line. It rings and I answer it--or don't. My phone bill is about $35.00 a month and I can disconnect the phone without having to pay some big cancellation fee. Every time I see one of those commercials about cell phone "plans" and "minutes" and "roaming charges", etc. I'm amazed at how complicated having a phone has become. I really don't get it.

[imdjh]

59. I don't have a land line. I pay $60/mo so that I have one number and one phone.

It works out really well for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the day I told the phone company to go away.

I am the future. You are a crank phone nailed to the wall with Sarah on the other end.

[skypilot]

60. Ugh, you.

I have one phone and one number too and I'm quite fine with my phone being "nailed" to the wall rather than to my ear as I'm walking down the street. And if YOU are the future then I hope the Mayans were right about 2012.

[azmouse]

72. Good luck with the cell phone in an big emergency when

all the satellites are over-loaded. I'll use my land line to get you help.

[imdjh]

80. 911 still works on landline even though it's technically disconnected nt

[barbtries]

78. would love to be able to do that

but in this apt cell coverage is spotty at best. i don't always want to go out on the balcony to talk.

[amborin]

85. the cell phone corps are making big profits off folks like you!

$60 a month is a lot of $$ for a phone!

[damntexdem]

57. But consider the following ..... oops, wait, it's my cell.

Can you wait a moment -- I have to take this.

[Berry Cool]

62. Can't blame you.

It's healthy to be unavailable to the world at times. And no one should call anyone expecting him or her to drop everything for the call, nor should anyone ignore the people they're with for a person on a phone for a long time. Nor should people use them as an excuse to re-negotiate appointments at short notice just because they can.

People shouldn't talk on them while driving, or give a TMI report over them when in public. Or use them to take pictures surreptitiously. And the ringtones they choose can be annoying as hell.

The problem is, too many people just lack phone etiquette.

Phones are a classic example in life of "Just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD."

[TexasObserver]

63. Turn your ringer off.

I've had the ringer turned off on my phone, cell and home, for many years. I have my cell on vibrate. I have the sound on my house phones turned off entirely. If I see the phone ring, great. If I don't see it ring, that's fine, too. Leave a message.

Talking on the phone while driving should be illegal in every state until all circumstances.

Taking a phone call while busy with someone else is rude. If someone does that to you, walk away from them or otherwise go about your business, leaving them to their conversation on the phone. If you will disengage such persons, they will gradually learn not to stop talking to you for a phone call.

I wish others would have more sense about cell phones, but they don't. There are too many fools who think any time the phone rings, they have to answer it, and too many fools who think others need to hear their asinine conversations with their mouth breathing friends.

[roody]

66. I don't have one, and when one goes off inappropriately,

I am so happy that it is not mine.

[Fumesucker]

67. As someone who once *always* had a book handy in case of a wait..

I now have several books, a movie or two and the perfect radio station in my Blackberry Pearl Flip available whenever I feel bored..

I don't talk on the phone much but I listen to music, watch movies or read on it a lot. I have more tunes that I really like on my phone than the playlist of most radio stations and no extremely annoying DJ's and enraging advertising. I record internet radio stations and download podcasts and movies to listen to or watch.

No landline, all I have is the cellphone, since it's added onto my families' account it costs me all of ten dollars a month. The rest of my family uses text more than voice so I get the bulk of two thousand minutes a month, most of which I never use.

If you can hear my earbuds playing in my ears, bats would be envious of your hearing, mine have the soft silicone plugs that totally seal into the ears and I can't hear them six inches away from my ears when they're out.

And furthermore GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!

[ThomThom]

68. You are so right, we need to think about new rules for phone use.

1. call back if you are already in a conversation
2. in public places can be so annoying (use to be if someone was walking down the street talking to themselves you thought they were a little off now they are just on the phone)
3. all this texting... just say it (a whole new language is developing around texting) I want verbal confirmation (I have texting blocked I refuse to pay for someones wrong number)
4. ...?

[bikebloke]

73. I'll strick with my land line.

Nothing is so important in my life that I need to be reached where ever I am. When I'm not home or at work, I'm probably on my bike.

Last month I was at a guest house in Turkey. In the open court yard, dinner was being served and we were forced to listen to this american backpacker (I'm a backpacker, too) whinge to his mummy on his mobile about all the foods he missed - chicken breast, macaroni & cheese... The place was bad enough without that - shame on Lonely Planet for touting it.

[barbtries]

74. you're not forced to answer the phone...

i remember when call waiting first came into being. then as now, if i was left holding for longer than one minute i hung up. didn't bother getting pissed off, just hung up. saved a little wear n tear on my BP.

[Hannah Bell]

77. I hate them at the library. Morons leave the ring on, then chat away at full

volume, oblivious to the fact that it's a frigging *library,* & other people don't want to share the mundane details of their lives, oblivious to the signs posted everywhere about cells.

Makes my blood pressure rise.

[Little Star]

79. I'm with you. When I go anywhere in a car I take my cell phone.

I never turn it on. I have it so if I ever need to call for help I can. I am very happy doing my own thing and don't need company to chat with while I am doing what ever I am doing.

[undergroundpanther]

82. I hate phones too

Convenient yes.A big pain in the ass? Ditto.
I used to literally panic,you know chest clenching palm sweaty,dizzy gonna pass out anxiety over if it was my mom cal;ling to grill me over the damn phone. My mother wasn't as aware as she is now of how her habit of calling me every day with a barrage of nosy questions,especially early in the morning would make me lose it.It took me over 6 months for me to feel confident to NOT HAVE TO pick up the damn phone every time it screams.
My mom,my family except for my drunk asshole father would instantly get up race to the phone flustered ,to grab it whenever that annoying interruption of life device let out it's imperious rings.It would go counting down to five rings, that's when it was assumed people would hang up. This was back before answering machines were something most of the public could afford. So sans machine,we had 5 seconds to answer the phone or else MISS THE CALL..OoooOh.Arrgh.Like I WANT to drop everything,end every conversation for the mystery twit calling on the PHONE.. That horrid phone anxiety is a learned response I had to UNLEARN.

Anyway, I have unlearned it well.I have answering machines on both the house and cell.I will get to you when I get to you be it txt or messages.But if you really want to get ahold of me,come on over my place,make your presence known and bang on the door.I like hanging out with entire people,not just their disconnected voices making pointless small talk with me while the phone is tying up my hands and my attention,making my ear sweat and my wrist ache. Call me to tell me short bits of information,,to get short bits of information,to invite me somewhere,discuss plans, or to tell me you are coming over,other than that,don't bother me,talk to the machine..

Why? Because I HATE Phones.

[amborin]

83. thank goodness they're still prohibited during flights!

otherwise, totally agree!

and, if i call someone, i always preface everything by asking if it's a convenient time and if they have a minute to chat or discuss

i mostly email friends and colleagues, i much prefer email, too

really annoying: purchasing something in a store and while at the checkout, paying, the clerk stops everything to take some long call! don't they know the customer in the hand is worth more than the one calling?

[rockymountaindem]

90. I could have written that post

You hit every single point about why I think cell phones are the bane of modern existance. They're great when I need a little last-minute directions on how to get somewhere, or ask my friends what is going on, but I hate that people think "well, I never need to honor commitments - I can call with a 5 minute cancellation window". That blows chunks.

[earth mom]

94. I have a pay as you go cell phone that I rarely use and I so agree with this OP!

I can't stand when MY tranquil moments out in the world are disrupted by other people screeching on their fucking cell phones like they are the most god damn important person in the world! :mad:

And don't even get me started about people who talk on their fucking phones while driving! :grr:

[Mother Of Four]

97. I had someone call me 17 times....

17 TIMES in a 30 min shopping trip, because I didn't answer the phone. (I was in a time crunch, in the groc store..and didn't feel like wandering the isles chit chatting where everyone could hear what I was saying.)

I called her back and said "Girl, I love you...but this better be an emergency!"

She said "OH..I thought something bad had happened because you didn't answer!"

:wow: Uhm...If it had been a house phone, people would have just assumed that I wasn't there.

They are starting to irritate the crud out of me too. I've already had two friends cancel theirs, because it's really not necessary. They have a work phone if the school calls, emergency contacts, and are getting a house phone instead.

[lib2DaBone]

98. Bumper Sticker... "Hang Up And Drive"

I sat through 3 complete red light changes the other day. The guy in front of me was on the cell phone, obviously having an argument, because I could see him pounding on the steering wheel and yelling.

Because of traffic on both sides of me, I could not get around him. I honked my horn... nothing worked.

The next day I got a bump-er sticker, Hang Up And Drive. Put it on ...and someone keyed the side of my car.... can't win Mehh....

[ipaint]

99. I don't have one.

I was at the grocery store in the deli and there were no less than 3 people waiting with me who were talking into invisible hands free things stuck in their ears. Not only were the one sided conversation distracting it prevents any kind of real in person talking. I enjoy talking to people in lines, waiting rooms etc. I enjoy the connection with flesh and blood people even if it is just eye contact and a smile.
It seems odd that many people now walk around in a bubble oblivious to those around them while chattering into various form of electronics.

[lunatica]

100. I often wonder when people find the time to be introspective

I need to find quiet time every day just to think and process my daily life. I get up at 5 am just to do that, but during the day I find the time while walking to my jobs. I have two part time jobs in different departments at UC Berkeley and it's a beautiful wooded campus so there's a feeling of being close to nature which helps in thinking and introspection. When I see so many people on their cell phones I notice they don't look around at the trees and they seem unaware of the beauty around them. It's puzzling.

[MadHound]

102. I have a cell, I even carry it with me most of the time

However it is always off, I've given out the phone number to a handful of people who all know that I rarely turn it on. It is essentially an emergency phone that I got for my wife when I started riding a motorcycle, she didn't want me to crash and be unable to contact somebody if I needed to.

I use it more for a watch than as a phone.

What's sad is I applied for a summer job a couple of years ago and they asked for my cell phone number. I told them I don't have a cell and their statement was that if I got the job I would need a cell phone. I told them that I didn't need their job that bad to be on call all the time. I think that this is going to be a trend in employment, cell phones mandatory so that your employer can contact whenever they want.

I refuse to play that game.

[Zix]

104. I switched my cellphone off months ago. I left it off.

I don't regret it.

I'm considering going the same way with e-mail.