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I hate telephones

jameshfisher.com

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Re: I hate telephones

#221

Post by wruza »

kibwen wrote: post #37

I receive about 20 spam calls per day. In contrast, I receive about 0.2 legitimate calls per day. Google itself suspects that these are spam calls, because it pops up a bright red "SUSPECTED SPAM CALLER" warning when the phone begins ringing. And yet, I have found no option to have the phone automatically decline the call. There's not even an option to silence the ringer for any call not from my contacts; I actually…

May be not much convenient depending on the phone software, but you may consider setting default ring to something less noticable and/or demanding than “friendly ringtone” that you can set to selected contacts. There is also “don’t distract” mode afaik, with an ability to list contacts who can do it anyway.

Re: I hate telephones

#222

Post by dqv »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #48

There are a number of phone answering services that will ameliorate this issue. These guys charge $1/call ( http://www.answeramerica.com/telephone-answering-service-pri... ) (no relation to them). In terms of startup ideas, there is probably an Uber like service opportunity here. An app where your "operators" can download and put on their phone, and when ever they want to they can put them selves "active" at which po…

It sounds like a good idea in theory, and excuse my being unimiginitive, but answering services are even more blue collar than ride hailing. It's a lot of work that I'm not sure many people want (the operators and everyone else involved with running the service).

Anyway, the big problem with this concept is the profitability of answering services is predicated on constantly changing the rates and dropping "dead weight clients" (that is an industry term from the guy who facilitates answering service sales). I don't know if this is possible in an uberized answering service.

Would answered calls be worth enough that people would pay a higher rate during higher demand periods? I honestly don't think so.

The industry could stand some innovation - it is severely lacking. Why is it that 70% of all answering service sites are not served with TLS?

(hint: proprietary answering service equipment vendors have choked the industry and now it can't innovate)

Re: I hate telephones

#223

Post by matt4077 »

xg15 wrote: post #200

> I hate telephones. > The problem is the medium. The problem is synchronous communication. The problem is the telephone. I hate telephones. > I’m told that, in 1993, 2.5 million people in the UK had “telephone phobia”. That’s over 4%, similar to rates of arachnophobia. This is not unusual, and I’d bet rates are higher now. Everyone hates telephones. > ... Asynchronous textual communication is how everyone communicat…

I love how you are admittedly making something up the article doesn’t say (“implied”), and then proceed to call it “arrogant”.

Re: I hate telephones

#224

Post by DanBC »

DanBC wrote: post #24

James has a disability, and thus can ask for reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010. It's easier to lie and say "I'm deaf" because they have some awareness of that. Also, in England, you can self refer to IAPT and most people start under 6 weeks and 96% of people start under 18 weeks.

I'm not sure why this has been downvoted. James wrote this:

> Recently, when I was at mum’s alone, the house phone rang. I didn’t answer it. It rang again immediately. I didn’t answer it. It rang again immediately. I stood over it, willing it to stop, palms sweating.

That meets the UK legal definition of a disability, and under UK law he can ask for reasonable adjustments to avoid telephones. He could give his mental health status as the reason he needs the reasonable adjustment, but most places won't know much about that, and so it would be easier if he used hearing impairment - many places know about hearing impairment, and have processes in place to avoid telephone use.

Maybe I should have said I'm speaking from personal experience: I've got a bank and some bits of government departments and some bits of the NHS to use email rather than telephone with me.

Re: I hate telephones

#225

Post by mirimir »

mirimir wrote: post #74

I generally don't like being interrupted. But, paraphrasing Marv, I love spam callers. No matter what you do to them, you don't feel bad.

It seems that I've offended a few people. Sorry. I ought to know better than making comments that are contentious, brief and joking.

My point is that I'm getting old. And so I've become more sympathetic to issues around spam calls to older people. Who may be hard of hearing, slow to understand, and gullible. I suffer from none of that so far. But I can fake it, following the Eddie script.

Basically, I give callers a chance to get that I'm old, and a little incoherent. If they back off, and apologize for bothering me, I thank them, and wish them the best of luck.

But if they push, knowing that I'm old and apparently vulnerable, I segue into full Eddie. With no regrets.

Re: I hate telephones

#226

Post by DanBC »

xefer wrote: post #182

My changed relationship with the telephone became weirdly apparent when I watched the original WarGames movie recently. There's a scene where David (Matthew Broderick) is alone with McKittrick (Dabney Coleman) in his office being interrogated separated by an office desk. While they're sitting there the telephone on McKittrick's desk starts ringing, which he silently ignores keeping his eyes glued on David, who grows…

The 5:4 timing of the ring in the UK was designed to create tension and a sense of urgency to make people answer it quicker.

Re: I hate telephones

#227

Post by matt4077 »

wruza wrote: post #218

I noticed that people of my age (30+) who don’t take unknown calls usually feel inner insecurities that influence (or cause) their unhappy lives. It may be debt, unmet responsibilities, fear of being abused, etc. I can remember the time when landlines were new and everyone was excited to take a call and to speak to someone who’s not even around. The story also reminds me an old joke/anecdote. English gentlemen club,…

I believe there’s a “churning” where a medium is first abandoned for the most informal, and usually pleasant, conversation, leaving the old medium only for the unp,easentries of life, such as bills or death notices.

Re: I hate telephones

#228

Post by martian »

gonehome wrote: post #131
kibwen wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate the advice, I hadn't considered using DND, but wouldn't that also silence e.g. texts as well?

I tried this on iOS and it doesn’t work well because it turns off all other notifications. While calls do get through from your contacts, you don’t get notifications for anything. I really just want a contacts whitelist, but since that isn’t an option I use nomorobo which is a subscription service that works really well to block spam calls for $2/month. It’s an iOS app, focuses on not uploading your stuff to their se…

Just use the Do Not Disturb feature on iOS

Re: I hate telephones

#229

Post by blhack »

kibwen wrote: post #37

I receive about 20 spam calls per day. In contrast, I receive about 0.2 legitimate calls per day. Google itself suspects that these are spam calls, because it pops up a bright red "SUSPECTED SPAM CALLER" warning when the phone begins ringing. And yet, I have found no option to have the phone automatically decline the call. There's not even an option to silence the ringer for any call not from my contacts; I actually…

Blocklist plus (app) on android totally solves this problem. Anything from either an unknown number or from something not in your address book gets routed directly to voicemail (doesnt even show up on your screen).

I recently switched my main phone to IOS and it is by far the feature I miss the most.

Re: I hate telephones

#230

Post by unsignedint »

I have a virtual secretary that came with the phone service. It called voice mail. I don't take unknown calls these days unless I expect them. If they are serious talking to me, they will leave a message. I will simply call them back as needed.

Occasions I took unknown calls were all scams, and these days, it just won't worth the hassle of dealing with them.

What frustrate me the most is when I call them back, it's not a direct line, and/or when the person doesn't answer yet their voice mail is not activated so I can't leave a message.

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