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I hate telephones

jameshfisher.com

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Re: I hate telephones

#411

Post by otterley »

aagha wrote: post #404
_nalply wrote: post #23

Me, too. I don't hear, so I don't phone. However some business is almost impossible to conduct without phoning. AWS requires identification by phone. Customs tried to call me to ask me something about my bike I sent home from a holiday abroad. Credit cards are only unblocked by a phone call. And so on. (And phone relays are only a partial solution because some commpanies deem them insecure - I have currently a credit…

Isn't this a violation of the ADA?

711 exists so that businesses don't have to support TTY calls directly.

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/711-telecommunications-...

Re: I hate telephones

#412

Post by grkvlt »

b0rsuk wrote: post #368
lifeformed wrote: post #124

Getting a phone call always feels so rude. It's like it's saying, "Whatever you are doing, stop RIGHT NOW and listen to me. NOW! NOW! I'm giving you TEN SECONDS! LISTEN TO ME."

Wait, it gets better. You're watching movie with someone. That someone is getting a call. Pause that movie. See you in 30 minutes. Phones don't even have a polite way to decline conversation, a button labeled "Call me 1 hour later" or similar.

Sure they do. Mine (Android) at least, has an option to decline the call and send one of a variety of text messages to the caller including exactly that one (I'm busy right now, call me back in an hour) with one touch. Does iOS not support this sort of thing as well?

Re: I hate telephones

#413

Post by giancarlostoro »

kemayo wrote: post #61
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…

Strangely enough, given Android's comparatively-customizable nature, I think this is an area where iOS does it better? (Others might correct me.) iOS 10 added "call blocking" as an app-type, which lets you choose apps which can filter phone calls for you. They can flag calls as possible-spam, or completely block them. (See [1] for Hiya's options screen, as an example.) An "only ring for my friends" feature is sort of…

I have my phone set to "Do Not Disturb" and it allows me to define that only starred contacts or regular contacts are allowed to get through. Given that most people I know rarely ever call I think it's a sane enough config setting. I have an Android Phone, more specifically an LG G5. No app required in my case, it's just hidden in the settings.

Re: I hate telephones

#414

Post by grkvlt »

combatentropy wrote: post #93

This article is hilarious and well written. Despite it being about suffering a little too much pain over phone calls, I think it's also meant to be funny. Take for example his story about being too nervous to call his own doctor and eventually getting just better on his own, and therefore how he wonders if telephones are a tool used by the national health service to cut costs. I wonder how he would have survived in t…

> he wonders if telephones are a tool used by the national health service to cut costs

that just lowered my opinion of him. first he mentions there is an online service, but for some reason he can't be bothered to obtain the user id required to use it. similarly with his bank, he can't use facebook messenger to communicate with them (and why on earth would he want to) and mentions their other digital banking services for online access, but again refuses to use them. the report of millions of people with 'telephone phobia' is misrepresenting things - there are not 4.5 million people with a mental condition that causes them fear and anxiety when confronted by a telephone, there are that many people who don't like phones, the same as there are that many people who don't like spiders. and the idea that the NHS might be trying to save money by providing a telephone service staffed 24/7 is just so ludicrous it's hard to know how to respond. the author obviously has mental health issues regarding social interactions, and should seek help for that issue rather than trying to replace the telephone.

Re: I hate telephones

#415

Post by Strom »

thomk wrote: post #210

My favorite is this call from an unknown caller. /ring Me: Hello. Caller: Hello, is this Me: Who is this? Caller: IS THIS ? Me: Who is this? Caller: Sir, I can not give you any information until you identify yourself. Me: Hahah. /click Don't call me and make demands. Seriously. If you aren't willing to tell me why you just called this number, I'm not even going to verify I'm a person let alone identify myself.

I frequently experience a variant of this where they don't even know who I am.

Me: Hello!

Caller: Am I talking to an individual or a company?

Me: You should know who you're calling.

My answer really throws a wrench into their flowchart, they don't even know which product/service to try to sell me.

Re: I hate telephones

#416

Post by grkvlt »

throw401 wrote: post #34

I hate telephones too, and I DON'T have an anxiety disorder please!!! I'm just not the guy always ready for a call. I rarely pick up the phone or open the door for a unknown call, and yes it can create stress. Quite often I am very focussed and balanced, one call can ruin that state. If you cannot find yourself in this, please don't create a disease out of it.

admittedly, although i also wouldn't class it as a mental disorder, i don't like using the phone. interestingly, i find i often have to have a cigarette to calm myself down before making or answering an important call...

Re: I hate telephones

#417

Post by Zak »

jimmyswimmy wrote: post #286
vilmosi wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android can absolutely do this. Either via settings or replacing the default calling app.

Can't. You can block individual numbers, but there is no tool in the base Android to block all unknowns. Fortunately there are plenty of apps which will do exactly that - but I'm confused as to why I need to install an app to do something so simple.

The solution someone suggested elsewhere in this thread is to use make the default ringtone silence, then assign audible ringtones to all your contacts.

Re: I hate telephones

#418

Post by mercutio2 »

tomjen3 wrote: post #331
yoodenvranx wrote: post #133

> If I were rich, I would have a permanent secretary. If I ever play and win the lottery this is the one thing I would spent big money on. No expensive cars, no expensive wine, just a person which takes care of everything. Need a new insurance for the car? Tell the secretary to do it. Car is broken? Tell the secretary to take care of it. Need a hotel? Tell the personal secretary to book one. Phone broken? Just send a…

A secretary hired in the us is expensive. A virtual personal assistant in India (which is the same thing, except you never meet in person) is not.

As long as nothing you want to do requires any financial transactions or otherwise has legal ramifications, sure.

But hiring someone you’ve never met in person to deal with money or legally binding documents is a recipe for getting your assets stolen or worse.

Re: I hate telephones

#419

Post by Dylan16807 »

ghaff wrote: post #20
__s wrote: post #4

Me too. No land line, no mobile. I don't have an anxiety response as detailed here so much as a properly calibrated respect for my own uninterrupted time. Job wants me to get a mobile phone but we'll see. Email makes sense: it's a pull interface. If you want a push interface to communicate with me you'll have to ring my door bell I recently made the mistake of helping carry the load at work by answering the phone the…

You do realize that you likely wouldn't have a job without those annoying customers who are calling for support?

And they wouldn't have a job if nobody did the accounting, and they wouldn't have a job if nobody did the building maintenance, and they wouldn't have a job if nobody designed marketing material...

A lot of jobs are important. That doesn't imply that everyone should want to do every job.

Customer support is just one job among many. And disliking customer support isn't disliking customers.

Re: I hate telephones

#420

Post by technofiend »

SerLava wrote: post #251
anotherevan wrote: post #111

I’m probably a bit the other way in that I get frustrated with text messages going back and forth and back and forth when a one minute phone call will sort everything out far more efficiently. Probably also has something to do with hating tapping away at tiny virtual keyboard on the phone, too. My teenage daughter seems very reluctant to make a phone call. Watching her try and organise something with her friends driv…

> “Why don’t you just call them, and get it all figured out right now?” Because it's rude. It has always been rude, but now with the phone in your pocket it's that much worse. She doesn't know what her friend isn't doing at the moment, and shouldn't impose. The featured article gives a better impression of this than I can... but I'll add that the tragedy of the commons is a factor. You can't just show up from outer s…

>Because it's rude. It has always been rude, but now with the phone in your pocket it's that much worse. She doesn't know what her friend isn't doing at the moment, and shouldn't impose.

You have to understand people originally got phones so they could be contacted which is in direct contradiction to your assertion "It has always been rude". Actually no it was originally desirable. A whole unwritten social etiquette sprung up around use of phones, in fact, because some people could be rude or found certain behavior rude. But people got phones because they wanted that medium.

Certainly when cell phones first sprung into existence some of those social contracts changed due to the cost and the fact in the US the recipient paid for the call and there were no unlimited calling plans. It could be considered rude keep someone on the phone then they're paying anywhere from 25 cents to one dollar per minute to speak to you.

When texting first came into play each text could be 10 or 20 cents each. Again, sending excessive texts would be considered rude.

Social norms have changed over time and I really don't know anyone young or old who shares your view that they consider any phone call an intrusion no matter the reason.

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