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I hate telephones

jameshfisher.com

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Re: I hate telephones

#361

Post by djhworld »

hnarn wrote: post #10
ghaff wrote: post #7

I'm about to ditch my landline and one of the main reasons (in addition to not using it much) is that legitimate calls are far outnumbered by junk calls. I don't answer numbers I don't recognize but it's still a distraction. There seems to be some principle in play where the misuse of a communications channel rises to the point where it's annoying but not quite unusable. If I got 20 junk calls a day, I'd have to turn…

Out of curiousity, when were you born? I was born in the 80's, and among my friends literally noone has a landline, not even the older ones. There's simply no argument for it. I'm in northern Europe by the way.

I have a landline, out of necessity becaused I need one to get broadband in my house (via ADSL)

The ringer on it is turned off though, I've never given out the number to anyone. Nor do I ever use it.

It's nice to know it's there though, I guess as a last resort in emergency situations.

Re: I hate telephones

#362

Post by batrat »

kibwen wrote: post #102
programbreeding wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't exactly what you're asking for but on Android: Settings > Sound > Do Not Disturb > Allowed in Priority Only > Calls From Contacts Only (or Calls from Starred Contacts Only if you really want to lock it down). Optionally enable: If the same person calls a second time within a 15 minute period, allow it (might allow someone really trying to reach you to get through, might also allow a spam caller through).

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

I have an s7 and I star every important number. I use use IFTTT to enable DND automaticaly at 22.00 and disable it at 8.00. Is very convinient. I can also filter an app for example whatsapp to pass DND and ring.

Re: I hate telephones

#363

Post by zkomp »

Yes: +1 to this. I'm probably one of those 4%. But this "phobia" might just initially be a slight negative feeling of not knowing who or what it is. But it is enough to tip the balance since the majority of calls you get are spam or otherwise unsolicited crap, and the few real calls actually meant for you arn't positive either - then it becomes a learned fear that reinforces itself every time.

I would never call if there is another way using text or other medium, I will not answer if it is not known or there is a good probability I know what it is. If I really have to make a call, that entails preparations and lots of wasted energy (it is wasted since would write it down, and then I could just send it as text and it would be easy to read and understand...)

Sure I can and do use Truecaller, and other ways to block spam or unwanted calls, and It really does work. I still hate the phone though.

Re: I hate telephones

#364

Post by robteix »

Feniks wrote: post #114
brightsize wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There IS an argument for it. Around a year ago we had a freak windstorm here. It was an amazing experience - took down trees and tore apart roofs all over. I'd never seen houses crushed by trees before. The power was out for days in some places, including mine. My phone battery died after a day, ditto the laptop's battery. My landline continued to function throughout. As I recall the service was also extremely inexpe…

Natural disasters that cut off power for more than a few hours are unlikely in Northern Europe. Cell towers have their own emergency power supply to deal with the once in a decade brown out. If the power is off for days it means the Apocalypse or WW3 has happened.

It’s not that uncommon here in Canada. It’s not like it happens every winter, but it is not uncommon to have some huge snow storm or frost that leaves some people without power for days.

Just this last winter thousands in New Brunswick were left with no power in the dead of winter for over a week.

Re: I hate telephones

#365

Post by koiz »

Imagine if every person in the world had the ability, at their arbitrary whim, to anonymously activate your fire alarm inside your home. That is the reality of the instant message. There is nothing quite as rude as the new message chime.

Re: I hate telephones

#366

Post by b0rsuk »

'''Text and email are polite invitations to a conversation. They happen at the speed and leisure of both the sender and the receiver. In stark contrast, when you get a phone call, it’s almost always a convenient time for the caller and a bad time for the recipient, who I refer to as the “victim” because I insist on accuracy. My philosophy is that every phone conversation has a loser.'''

-- Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert comic strip http://blog.dilbert.com/2010/09/03/phone/

Re: I hate telephones

#367

Post by zkomp »

DanBC wrote: post #243
Singletoned wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to hate them to a phobic degree, now I just hate them. I really dislike how much people are dismissing this. If I hated spiders, people wouldn't say "Oh you're just covering up an anxiety disorder".

Hang on - people aren't dismissing this as trivial; they're saying it's a common phobia (which is a form of anxiety disorder) and that there's good news: phobia is very treatable with a short course of therapy. That's freely available in England with short wait times.

Sure, but why should you treat it if it is not a disorder?

I think it is more a design issue with phones (than it is a phobia like for spiders).

Or rather: It is more a situation like if phones also happens to spew out huge spiders all over you in addition to letting you communicate remotely, and people get phobia as a result.

Why should I accept being woken up in the middle of the night for spam? Is this good design?, should I be "treated" to accept it?

Why should I be available 24/7 all the time for work? (design for PTSD?, more treatment yay...)

How come I can't use a secure medium to communicate to banks, or other services. (completely insane way to communicate securely)

The real insanity here: Forcing all people to use ancient remote voice communication and pretending it is even remotely secure. It might have been good enough way back, probably the only option, not so much in the current age of spam and digital communication.

Re: I hate telephones

#368

Post by b0rsuk »

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.

Re: I hate telephones

#369

Post by tareqak »

I've had really good luck with following the instructions here: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0262-stopping-unsolici... . I've registered for do not call, and opted out for pre-screened offers of credit permanently. I only recently learned about https://dmachoice.thedma.org/register.php for physically mailed spam, and I'm getting around to it.

I know it's all YMMV, but the number of spam phone calls that I receive has dropped to zero (not exaggerating here). There used to be one annoying travel/timeshare caller, but I reported them to the FTC two or three times, and that took care of it. I personally believe that it's fairly easy because of the time and date information that your phone's dialer/phone app records, but it could be easier with a bespoke FTC "donotcall" app. I'd rather involve the FTC in this sort of thing because it is part of their mandate, and benefits that they bring get propagated to all phone users (Android/iPhone/Windows Phone/feature phones/landlines).

Re: I hate telephones

#370

Post by DanBC »

zkomp wrote: post #367
DanBC wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hang on - people aren't dismissing this as trivial; they're saying it's a common phobia (which is a form of anxiety disorder) and that there's good news: phobia is very treatable with a short course of therapy. That's freely available in England with short wait times.

Sure, but why should you treat it if it is not a disorder? I think it is more a design issue with phones (than it is a phobia like for spiders). Or rather: It is more a situation like if phones also happens to spew out huge spiders all over you in addition to letting you communicate remotely, and people get phobia as a result. Why should I accept being woken up in the middle of the night for spam? Is this good design…

There is a difference between disliking something, and having an adrenaline-driven fight or flight fear response to something.

OP doesn't just dislike phones that ring in the middle of the night. OP dislikes phones all day every day, and dislikes them to the extent that he has a physical reaction to them.

Also, I'm not saying that OP must get treatment. I've given OP a strategy to continue to avoid using phones if they want to do so: OP can using UK law to force companies to make "reasonable adjustments". OP can say they have a phone phobia, but OP may face resistance if he says that so he could say he has a hearing impairment. Companies should have things in place to make reasonable adjustments for people with hearing impairment.

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