This way of thinking is kinda like "who will be the worst jerk, me or the guys trying to contact me?"
Not having a cell phone means that the world has to run on your time
41–50 of 62 posts
Re: Not having a cell phone means that the world has to run on your time
#42It's less about having/not having 'foo' and more about letting or not letting 'foo' dominate your life. In the case of cell phones 'foo' is the cellphone as well as all the people trying to contact you through it. I never answer a call I don't recognize, I check the vmail afterwards. If they don't leave one, oh well guess they didn't need to talk to me that bad. I often don't anser the phone when someone I know does…
Absolutely. I will never understand the need to answer every single call. And interrupting SEX? That's just bizarre.
Re: Not having a cell phone means that the world has to run on your time
#43Seriously, what is it with you yanks? "I used [something most people use] every minute of every day, but I decided to stop using [that something] alltogether and now I feel [free/empowered/at peace/intellectually stimulated/etc]." What about moderation?
The key here isn't that you aren't carrying a cellphone... it's that the people trying to contact you know you aren't carrying a cellphone.
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Re: Not having a cell phone means that the world has to run on your time
#44Everybody knows I carry a phone but they also know that I don't answer it if I can't or don't want to. I have no problem with letting someone go to voicemail if I can't or don't want to talk on the phone right then... me carrying around a device that allows me to be connected whenever I want doesn't obligate me to actually be connected at any particular point. If they need me urgently, they should leave a second voicemail or, preferably, send me a text.
Re: Not having a cell phone means that the world has to run on your time
#45Seriously, what is it with you yanks? "I used [something most people use] every minute of every day, but I decided to stop using [that something] alltogether and now I feel [free/empowered/at peace/intellectually stimulated/etc]." What about moderation?
The key here isn't that you aren't carrying a cellphone... it's that the people trying to contact you know you aren't carrying a cellphone.
You don't have to answer every single call. I carry my phone all the time but I don't answer calls from unknown numbers. A lot of times I don't answer calls from friends either. They know I'll get back to them when I feel like it. Nobody has ever gotten their feelings hurt because of it.
Re: Not having a cell phone means that the world has to run on your time
#46A common factor of these famous people who do not use a cell phone: they have at least one assistant/secretary.
Not at all. In almost all cases, it's a self-maintained illusion that the people that call you cannot wait for a few minutes or hours to hear back from you. Sure, it might be annoying to someone that they didn't get to talk to you, but rarely does it actually make a difference.
Lately I've been forwarding people that leave me voicemails the Google Voice transcription along with my response. At first, a couple people took offense, but now they're asking me how to set that up for themselves.
Re: Not having a cell phone means that the world has to run on your time
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not at all. In almost all cases, it's a self-maintained illusion that the people that call you cannot wait for a few minutes or hours to hear back from you. Sure, it might be annoying to someone that they didn't get to talk to you, but rarely does it actually make a difference.
Text messaging wastes far less time, and leaves time for more interesting pursuits than trying to quickly, extemporaneously, condense the purpose of your call into the space allotted by voicemail. Without my Droid, my conversations would consist of a lot more bookkeeping.
I prefer to treat text messaging like email, where I don't read it as soon as it is received. In fact, using Google Voice, my text messages ARE emails. People get used to and usually respect the fact that I have more important things to do that constantly reply to their queries.
Re: Not having a cell phone means that the world has to run on your time
#48The world has to run on your time, unless the world can happily ignore you.
Re: Not having a cell phone means that the world has to run on your time
#49Absolutely. I managed to successfully evade cell phone ownership for years and it was dramatically empowering. It also made me develop a pretty strong distaste for our cultural addiction to instant communication. In fact, it's become at least a small part of my definition of success. I am not a concierge. I do not await phone calls with the longing of a teenager on Friday night. My peace and leisure cannot be disturb…
Like any other development tool, you can leave the smartphone on your desk. No need to carry it around.
One could, but I think part of being a good app developer is understanding how people use the platform. Just like Boeing needs pilots, Ford needs drivers, etc.
Imagine trying to develop a web application if you only used a browser on your own development and production website (ie: that you otherwise "left it on your desk")
Re: Not having a cell phone means that the world has to run on your time
#50I always have my cell on either silent or vibrate mode. This frees me from unwanted distractions. But there is one slight problem to this whole "free your time" deal: your friends might get annoyed at the delayed response.
But I think they've gotten used to my behavior. Maybe.