The Wordsmith&#39;s Forge

I'm not permitted to have one anymore. Someone else decided that I had to have a cell phone because it was what they wanted and they were paying. They didn't care that I couldn't use it. While I could, in theory, buy my own landline I find it difficult to justify paying for a very expensive phone hookup just because I might need to make an emergency call someday.

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Mobiles have issues with emergency calls, depending on the area - location information MAY NOT be sent to the energency call center.

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Yes, and that's before you add in the problems with call centers themselves. I haven't heard it being an issue in my area, but out west, emergency calls may be routed to a department several hours away. It leaves people having to look up individual numbers for closest services and pray they'll even take the call.

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scrubjayspeaks

I only started texting because my day job effectively demanded it, and that's still the only reason I use texts. So that technology is tied to stress and unhappiness for me. Email though? That's fandom territory. That's inter/national friends. I do not fear my inbox. The text alert sound, though, now sends me *and* my dog into anxiety fits.

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The article did imply that it's not the technology but the application that makes people hate it. They hated phones when that's what work used. Now they hate email. When the text generation goes to work, they'll use text, and then "everyone" will hate it. Meanwhile people may switch to something else for personal use.

But look at the signal loss. We've gone from face-to-face work communication, which included total information; to phone, which lost visual but included audio; to email, which also lost visual for body language but gained the useful abilities to control timing, polish before sending, and review later; to text, which has none of the advantages of earlier formers, but is merely short.

There's actually a scene in "Lucifer" where Lucifer sent Amenadiel a string of emojis about the climax of the previous season, and Amenadiel came to him in person to ask what the hell it meant. Lucifer had to translate.

Now imagine that happening at work. Won't this be fun?

You and your dog are just 10-20 years ahead of the curve. It'll take that long for other people to figure out what a fucking stupid idea this is.

*sigh* I wish everyone had the Amish rule of "Before adopting a new piece of technology, first consider the impact it will have. If it does more harm than good, don't adopt it." I don't draw the line in the same place they do, but I sure latched onto that rule the moment I discovered it. This has saved me many headaches.

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ioplokon

It's already happening. I get texts from my boss after work hours about work business. Same w/ email, especially the fact that it can be used to contact you for work business you're NOT being paid for uh... it sucks. Email you can say you're not at the computer/not online. Texting (w/ cellphone) you're ALWAYS (expected to be) contactable. Which is a rip-off if you're hourly lmao.

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Exactly. It's the same as ordering employees to clock out but keep working, which is illegal, but increasingly common. We'll need laws to stipulate that employers either can't contact employees at home, or must pay extra if they want to do that.

One good solution, if they're playing the casual card, is to block texts or get a plan that doesn't have texts. If they're going to demand that kind of access, they should pay for it.

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siliconshaman

I'm with you on this.. I tried IRC, and didn't much like it. None of the later offerings have improved on that. The only short message system I occasionally use is IPtux, which is a LAN messenger system [works on local area networks only] and then only to ask my beloved if she wants a cup of tea or something while she's upstairs and I'm downstairs. Saves yelling up the stairs you see...

Not a big fan of phones in general either.. the quality of service seems to have greatly degraded the last few years, and I get the feeling that phone companies just aren't keeping up the voice side of the landlines now everything's internet or mobile.

Come to think of it... I wonder if any of the old bulletin board systems still work? Those used to occupy a happy mid-point between SMS text and email.

Edited Date: 2018-08-12 03:15 pm (UTC)

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*shrug* I keep my work electronica and my personal electronica very separate. I even use completely different email clients - both desktop and phonetop - for work vs. personal. They make different noises. And, yes, hearing work's noise is stressy.

AND I do tend to get "book-length" messages from certain people in my personal messaging app...

That *is* the thing about email vs. messaging. You _can_ use it as a filing system. Especially after a certain Very Large Knowledge Gatekeeper pioneered the "bottomless" email account... And it's also much easier to thread conversations, even with the same person. I *also* like the fact that this place meshes with email rather well; if I want to remember something (i.e. for later prompting) here, I just pin the prompt in my email, then when the appropriate Tuesday rolls around, I just search "prompt is:pinned" and it all falls out... some email even supports arbitrary tagging (like, say, "prompt" or "thankfulthursday" like posts do here), but mine doesn't, and it still works okay.

Hmmm! What would you say to a box that lets you plug your old-school more-comfortable landline phone into it and it would then use your wireless phone plan? Could that be a thing? I have to agree, pressing a cellie to your head isn't comfortable at all; I use a headset whenever I can. (Heck, it *sounds better* too; modern cell-to-cell calls are capable of HD sound - an artifact of the fact that everything is all high-speed digital these days, and we can afford to remove the 4kHz bandwidth cap and get some real sound going...) 'cause you got me thinking about how accessibility for non-standard telephone use would work...

Or if we chuck the idea of using a traditional handset entirely, using speakers and a tabletop mic and smarts in the computer to avoid feedback?

Just brainstorming here. Adaptive tech is _interesting_...

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>>What would you say to a box that lets you plug your old-school more-comfortable landline phone into it and it would then use your wireless phone plan? Could that be a thing?<<

Useless. The service is shitty.

>> use a headset whenever I can. (Heck, it *sounds better* too; modern cell-to-cell calls are capable of HD sound<<

To me, the speaker function on everything I've heard is actively painful, even with my hands over my ears. I've heard people brag about their sound quality. To me it's awful. I though it was just me, until I heard some other people complaining that cell phone function is worse than landline. But then when we were forced to get new cell phones, the drop was sudden and dramatic -- but just for me. Everyone else thought they were fine. I can barely make out words now. In that context, it was obviously due to the change in technology rather than my body, because it happened instantly with the phone switch. Whatever.

Cell phones aren't secure anyway, so I don't want to use them.

The technology is not designed with me in mind, and is evolving away from what I can use at all, let alone find useful.

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That's the point of my questions... I want to make something _you_ can use. Can you use any sort of headset at all, in-ear, on-ear, over-the-ear? Am wondering also if we can use a mixer to get the sound quality right _for you_...

Tech for the masses, is for the masses. You are unique and beloved, and I am a Thinker who knows Makers... and I want to make life easier for my people. Not Maximise Shareholder Value (ptui).

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>> That's the point of my questions... I want to make something _you_ can use. Can you use any sort of headset at all, in-ear, on-ear, over-the-ear? <<

Generally not. Having things on my body bugs me. I used to use headphones, over the ear, to listen to music; but they were always uncomfortable. Computer speakers are adequate. Bear in mind, anything touching my body tends to die much faster. Every watch I wear goes insane quickly, even in a plastic case with a nylon strap.

>> Am wondering also if we can use a mixer to get the sound quality right _for you_... <<

That's possible.

>> Tech for the masses, is for the masses. You are unique and beloved, and I am a Thinker who knows Makers... and I want to make life easier for my people. Not Maximise Shareholder Value (ptui).<<

I appreciate the thought.

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thnidu

Email is useful and often fun, and absolutely requires a spam filter. SMS is useful for coordinating, like "Leaving now, shd be there in 20min"
and
•Can we switch from thu to fri this wk?
•OK if we end before 2
•12-1?
•C U then

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stardreamer

I use e-mail regularly. I have a strong spam filter, plus a number of other filters that sift out the commercial and political stuff so that I only have to look at it if I want to. I have a good friend with whom I've been having an ongoing e-mail conversation for 9 years. I get e-mails from sellers when I've placed an order, and from shows I've applied to, and from hotels when I've made a reservation, and they can go into folders for later reference.

You can't store a text. Texting is for ephemeral stuff, like arranging for pickup from the doctor's office or sharing something funny with a friend.

I suppose I might feel differently if I'd ever had to use e-mail for work, but I had lost my day job before I ever got an e-mail address. If I needed to use it for work, I would certainly have separate e-mails for my work vs. personal life. Hell, even way back at the beginning I had two e-mail addresses but only gave one to my father, so that I wouldn't get long whiny messages on both of them!

I still use the phone too, but not as much as I used to, and definitely not for just chatting. But if I have to call somebody with questions about my account, I prefer text chat if that's an option; it removes issues like accents, which I sometimes have trouble parsing.

Basically, it's another version of "use the right tool for the job".

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Thinking further, back when I had dayjobs, I used email for them. They were all long-distance jobs. And I loved them, at least until they fell apart, so I enjoyed the email. Maybe the real problem isn't the media or the use of it for work, but the fact that so many people hate their jobs. If the latter, then anything -- no matter how good -- associated with work would become hated.

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I'm weird. (but you knew that) I can take a piece of tech I like from a job I hated and up my game at the next place. What I *did* do was change up the noises it makes...

*and* I kinda like a Japanese custom: It's considered rude to simply call without texting first.

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I'm weird in preferring the time when electronics made a very limited sound, which all and only meant "some electric device needs human attention." It was concise and predictable. Now an electronic cry for attention can be anything. It makes them meaningless to my ears. The only ones that register anymore are the older style ones.

And of course, the goddamn backing-up beep that sounds exactly like an air leak siren, and will always make me anxious no matter how much atmosphere is around me.

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*laughter* my default ringtone? Center, top row, on this page I think you'll find it familiar, if not comforting. The default messenger sound will be familiar to any old-school sailor... or Trekkie/Trekker. So, yeah, I tend decidedly OLD SKOOL... Yes, it takes some effort to get a new gadget set up, but dangit, these noises are MINE, and fairly unique amongst the people I spend time around day to day... I hate it when somebody else has the same noise as me. (This is common when using corporate provided phones.. 15 minutes 'til team meeting, and it goes down like dominoes, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, kaTHUMP! NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!... No, I am not that brave, YET... :)

They're slowly changing the backup beep to a square-wave buzzer...

Hmmm. Maybe if we put the 4kHz bandpass back *in*... just thinking.

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Someone has the spanish inquisition quote as a notification sound? That's awesome!

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It's considered rude to simply call without texting first.

This!!!

I actually got in that habit about....uh....15 years ago? When I was working overnights. And being cognizant of the fact that most people weren't on my schedule.

I grew up with a parent who thought if I slept in past 9am there was SOMETHING FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG WITH ALL THE THINGS and....yea, I don't bug people when they're sleeping if I can help it. Because it was done to me A LOT.

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batdina

I hate hate hate telephones! I used to have to answer them for other people (read attorneys) and the honest to God oppression I felt was shared by no one else in the office.

We do keep a landline here because the earth moves semi-regularly and it keeps service long after cell service dies. It's still my preferred method of phone use. I don't much care for cell phones, but you might be the only person I've ever heard that has the same problem with them that I do. People just look at me like I've lost my mind when I say cell phones hurt my ears.

That said, I have a headset that takes *most* of the pain out of using one. And I have to admit that texting is one of the only reasons I still have a cell phone.

I, too, prefer email. But a text that says "I'm on my way" also makes sense to me.

I do not, however, and have no plans ever so to do, have email on my phone. Not a chance in hell.

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hrafn

I hate texting, except for simple coordination purposes, in which case it is the Best Method Ever. But typing on a phone keyboard is horrible. I also hate when people use texting for things that are either more important, because it's so ephemeral, OR that are getting into "catching up with another" when I don't know them well because I just. Hate the social obligation feels with that. It's like being stuck in a face-to-face conversation and not having a good "script" handy to escape.

But with people I already know well, I do really enjoy using text chats on a full-sized keyboard. I prefer that over phone conversations in a lot of ways.

It does seem to be only older people (my age - 40s - and older) who write or respond to lengthy personal emails in a similarly lengthy and thoughtful way, rather than a terse thing, or by getting overwhelmed by there being too many sentences at once, or it being "formal" or whatever.

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>> Hate the social obligation feels with that. It's like being stuck in a face-to-face conversation and not having a good "script" handy to escape.<<

That's a wider problem, in that etiquette is not keeping up with technology. Frex, people now have extremely intimate conversations on the phone in public instead of in private. It's not just poor upkeep on their own boundaries; it intrudes on bystanders who don't want to hear the gory details of someone else's life. This makes public space less congenial and more noisy for everyone.

>>It does seem to be only older people (my age - 40s - and older) who write or respond to lengthy personal emails in a similarly lengthy and thoughtful way, rather than a terse thing, or by getting overwhelmed by there being too many sentences at once, or it being "formal" or whatever.<<

Then older people wonder why younger people have such a short attention span. Younger people wonder why they have difficulty maintaining relationships and why they feel unfulfilled. Because a life is made of what you do. It's the people you spend time with, what you do together, the hobbies you enjoy alone. Feeling understood is a universal human need, and it is not easily met in soundbites. Nor are big problems liable to be solved in texts and tweets. These things need space, and they're not getting it.

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Frex, people now have extremely intimate conversations on the phone in public instead of in private.

Sometimes at FULL VOLUME that can be heard across the store, too. *shudders*

Texting is good for avoiding that. Probably why that's so prevalent in places like Japan with a high mobile usage....

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If it's any help about the annoying noises, here's what I do:

I turn all the sounds off on MY mobile. Notifications are only allowed for texts and phone calls, and the occasional area-wide blanket emergency notification. (I do read my email, but generally I'm at the computer when I do that, not out and about. Attention issues.)

Notifications go to my watch, so my wrist will buzz.

(Caveat: I have a Pebble. They're not officially supported anymore, since Fitbit bought them, but you can probably find one cheap, you'll just have to find and likely DIY the official fix that makes them NOT depend on the original company servers. And I think Fitbit's prices for a pebble-equivalent are insane.)

If the texter or caller is NOT in my addressbook (a/k/a my "whitelist") - I don't answer. If I'm driving, I don't answer. Anyone that knows me long enough knows that I will not touch the phone when I'm behind the wheel.

(Dad always used to say "A phone does not have a constitutional right to be answered" - something I've taken to heart.)

It's discrete and it doesn't annoy the crap out of me OR anyone else.

There are two or three people who are set as "VIP callers" to make my phone actually RING. Nobody else makes the phone ring by default. I also have an "old skool" landline ringtone, which - oddly - I find less annoying then most of the fancy schmancy ringtones, even though it's louder.

I'm always amused when I see a 20-something in a line with their mobile's ringer set to the same old skool landline ring. I don't hear this sort of ringtone that often, interestingly!

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