Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Me and Mr. Bell



As someone who's a member of the legion of dedicated phone toters, you'd think I'd be in a state of constant conversation. And yet I rarely use it for its original purpose. 


This is not for lack of opportunity; I always have it with me. This morning on my way to the treadmill, I glanced over at my dashboard's display and had a twinge of unease when I realized I'd left my mobile phone at home on the charger. Suddenly I felt vaguely vulnerable, ludicrous when you consider I spent my first 40 years or so without one. Somehow I did once manage to run a household, raise children, and work a full time job with outside contact only available through an object bolted into the wall. 


And I do use my cell phone throughout the day. In the morning I check the forecast for the next surprise from global warming. At the grocery store I consult it to see what can be done with the eye of round roast on sale. I use its GPS in my quest for a mother of the groom dress that won't make me look like a freckled bag of Idaho potatoes.

When I'm the go, if I'm feeling a bit too buoyant, I can open up my email for a jolt of reality from the latest literary agent rejection. And at home, I abandon my spatula or my sponge when I hear the distant ping of incoming pictures of my daughter's new carpeting in New Jersey. 


My go-to form of communication is email. This was inevitable for someone who's a visual learner, loves manipulating language, and types well. And a control freak - the wonderful thing about writing your message, rather than saying it, is you can un-ring that bell. Say, in a moment of sudden honesty, you compose a note to your fellow committee members about grandmotherly Glady's suggestion of a Hawaiian hot-coal-walking competition for the annual town picnic. Unlike a face-to-face encounter, you have time to soften your language before you hit 'send', saving you from becoming a pariah at the senior center. 


As a result, it rarely occurs to me to pick up the phone just for a chat with a friend. I'll never be one of those people with my phone glued to my head while the checkout girl is trying to get my attention, or the guy with a Bluetooth unit in his ear conversing at full volume to the empty air around him.

But there are times when email just won’t cut it. Through the universe's perverse sense of humor, my sister, who is the writer I'll never be, is now finding it difficult to manipulate a keyboard. So this afternoon I'll make a cup of tea, find a quiet corner of the house and give her a call.

15 comments:

  1. I remember having a 20 foot cord on the phone so my friends and I could call and chat while we made supper or washed the dishes or folded laundry. I made sure my cord could stretch all the way to the front door, so I could call the kids or see who was there.

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    1. My kitchen wall phone had a cord that reached to the front door and half-way down the basement. Avocado, of course!

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  2. Sigh at the peversity of the universe.
    I don't carry my phone everywhere, and indeed don't make full use of it. Or the wall phone.
    Email was a wonderful discovery for me.

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    1. I love email. You don't have to worry if you're catching someone at a bad time.

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  3. Yes, I wonder how I lived without a portable communication device. I guess I generation is better off in that we know we can survive!

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  4. I have a cell phone, but I fear I'm a bit of a Luddite. It lives at the bottom of my purse and is only turned on when we travel or we're out for the day. I do use the GPS then and its other features, but I can't say I love it.

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    1. When my phone rings, I either jump two feet or look around to see whose phone is ringing.

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  5. "I spent my first 40 years or so without one. Somehow I did once manage to run a household, raise children, and work a full time job with outside contact only available through an object bolted into the wall".

    Right there is the main difference. When we weren't connected 24/7, when we didn't feel the need to be constantly updated on every little detail, we had so much more time on our hands.
    I remember getting all the housework done, including some dinner prep and making dessert, before lunch most days and had whole afternoons to myself because the kids were in school and the baby was playing outside or just following me around 'helping'.
    Now I have a computer and I'm typing this with my breakfast bowl still sitting beside me, the bed isn't made, I can smell my own armpits....yep, life is different with technology in the house.

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  6. We've become very used to the latest technology and it will change much faster in the near future.

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  7. I too feel really strange without my cellphone with me. Fortunately for me, on my Thursday hikes we don't have cell coverage for large swatches of the day. When we're in the Mt. Baker wilderness, I turn my phone to airplane mode so it won't keep searching for nonexistent connections. But it wasn't so long ago that I had a phone connected to the wall, too! :-)

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  8. I prefer email for communication too though I have recently gotten a SKYPE account and can video call my closest friends which I find much better than just talking on the phone. I finally got an iPhone several months ago and I don't use it for calling any more often that I did the flip phone. so far I use the camera the most and I did use it to find a restaurant in a small town that we didn't eat at because on the way we saw another one that we decided to eat at.

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  9. Like you, I use the phone for so many purposes other than making actual phone calls. I'm even liking the phone camera. Unfortunately, when in the past I used to sit quietly sometimes and just think, I'm now usually doing something on the dang phone.

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  10. You put into words why I prefer emailing to phone calls. Being able to "un-ring the bell" before hitting send. Wasn't even aware that was what I enjoyed but you are right. Thanks.

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  11. I have a phone on the wall. I am perfectly happy to leave it there :)

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  12. Amazing how accustomed you can become to having your phone with you. I still remember well the days of phones being tethered to a wall!

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