Why I Silence Calls Even When I'm Free

&quot;This is [because] I am always on offense and never defense.&quot;<p><a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/my-phone/2013/03/dave-morin-path-facebook-apple" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.vanityfair.com&#x2F;culture&#x2F;my-phone&#x2F;2013&#x2F;03&#x2F;dave-mori...</a>

Hmmmmm. A rant....<p>This might be culture, or just the people I know, but...<p>There seems to be an expectation that I&#x27;m supposed to respond immediately to any call or text, and if I don&#x27;t, some how I&#x27;m an arse. I have a mobile, there for apparently I&#x27;m never possibly parted form it, have the instant ability to stop anything I might already be doing, and its damn rude not to answer with in 3 rings, or reply to a text the second I receive it.<p>As such, I have come to view my mobile as some sort of pocket Nazi, who insists I will do as told.<p>Well, no.<p>I didn&#x27;t get a mobile phone so that others can dictate my life and it&#x27;s schedule. So, no, I don&#x27;t immediately pick up ever call or immediately respond to texts. I do so as and then I see fit. Obviously Im selective about it based on context, but there is no way Im going to allow that little pocket Nazi rule my life.<p>It really gets to me how I might be in the middle of something with another person, and any time their phone rings, what ever we are doing must be paused so they can take the call or respond to a text. Its like the phone has a priority over an actual person one might be with. Its just plain rude. I see it all over the place, and it appalls me.<p>Ahhhhhhhhhh HN therapy. :)

<i>the new rules of engagement: Call only if truly necessary. Text first.</i><p>These new rules of engagement are also old rules of engagement. In older times people called only if truly necessary. They hand-wrote letters otherwise.<p>I wish people started writing letters again. There could be a startup idea waiting to be discovered around this.

I have unplugged my work phone. No one has noticed or mentioned it. Most messages are emails and texts on my cell. I don&#x27;t answer the cell unless I know who is calling.

I always pick up because I&#x27;m excited that someone wants to talk to me.

It&#x27;s funny, I&#x27;m often exactly the opposite. Sometimes I&#x27;ll just call people up...without warning, without scheduling. It&#x27;ll catch them off guard at first, but I find it hands-down more efficient. Often times five minutes on the phone can garner a resolution easier than eight hours on an email chain (only to end up scheduling a call for the next day).<p>I really wish that people were more open to this; it&#x27;s strange because it&#x27;s how most of the world operated 10 years ago, but the thought of just calling someone up is almost ludicrous now...

&quot;And yet, I watched the call come in without touching my phone.&quot;<p>Pro tip: Hit the volume rocker to mute the ringer without cancelling the call. Works on at least iOS and most Androids.

This kind of sickens me, who treats their family like that?

It is only proper that I refuse to read the article.

I have a habit of doing this too, actually. Talking on the phone just feels too much like work.

We should all turn off our phones until a Bruce Springsteen song makes us burst out crying: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbYScltf1c" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=5HbYScltf1c</a><p>I&#x27;m joking, of course, but Louis makes some insightful points that go along with the author&#x27;s argument.

I think this is a side effect of the Internet. Smartphones give you unlimited information at your fingertips. With all the distractions online, it&#x27;s easy to become detached from your friends and family. I have the same problem.

&gt; Last Download: Mailbox.<p>&gt; “I use [it] to keep things at ‘inbox zero.’<p>Well, only 129 to go.

I think this is more about the control you lose with a phone conversation vs. a text conversation.

Sounds like a developing anxiety complex. I know three people who started out like this and justified it in different ways, then going straight to no pretense, just hating the phone, then eventually a full blown anxiety disorder.<p>This was the first of a few symptoms.