The cell phone makes it for me. It never seems to ring unless I'm: 1) being gentle w my significant other 2) on the necessary 3) in the shower 4) up to my elbows in chocolate 5) making 140 kph on a high clover between two double semi rigs 6) more awkward moments than I can list.
Sylvi369: I don't have trouble w telemarketers. I discovered years ago that the little panels the the boiler room slaves use include a button called the "PITA" (means what you think). Also, these companies work on MARGIN, just like every other for profit. So basically, if you pretend to be interested and waste 20 minutes of the marketer's time, you have killed the PROFIT on nearly 4 hours or so of phoning. The slave immediately pushes the PITA button and this info is kept in the record and SOLD along w all other data base info. I had to do it twice about 4 years ago and haven't had a real telemarketer call since. (I do get charities, because I'm more polite w them).
I never have a problem with my cell phone ringing, because I don't give anyone my number. It's for outgoing calls only. In fact, I don't even know what my number is. It changes whenever I have to buy a new SIM card because the old one timed out from lack of use.
Urinal advertising technology, specifically the kind that tailors the ads to your particulars after running your material through a mass spectrometer and scanning your junk.
1) Most Apple products, but let me explain before you think I am just a plain Apple hater. I love the ingenuity that comes from Apple and the fact that Apple has pushed many aspects of the consumer market into the hands (pun intended) of the consumer. Their ideas are truly clever and many other consumer product manufacturers simple copy Apple's features to have successful designs. They give people tools and toys that are in many cases cutting edge, but............wait for it............BUT, they always give it with limitations that prevent you from enjoying the freedom that their products could really give you. For example, the iPOD is an excellent product, but not being able to use it with whatever music library software I want is ridiculous (iTunes is a joke). Same thing for the iPAD2 and Flash/iTunes. A friend of mine just won an iPAD2 and he is thinking of selling it after using it for a week. Most of the websites he visits frequently use Flash and he has a massive music library that has to be migrated to iTunes to let him use it. It reminds me of Disney's Aladdin cartoon when the genie explains his powers being limited by the lamp: "Phenomonal cosmic powers, but itty bitty living space"
2) Smartphones/texting. It annoys me to see how many people think that they cannot survive a day without a cellphone in their hand so they can tweet, update facebook, text, or listen to music, anywhere anytime. Really? Don't you actually have a life to live as well? A friend of mine was recently conducting an interview with a 20 year old and smack dab in the middle of a question, he got a text. He picked up his phone, read it, AND responded. WOW. Her next statement was "I think we are done here". People actually think that it is okay to text during a job interview....that is really sad.
3) Facebook. As I have said before, Facebook is simply a place to let your inner junior-higher run free. It's great for people like my wife that use it to keep tabs with long distance friends and to share kid pictures with family, but people that are addicted to it and share every personal detail of their life are really sad.
4) Cellular Service Data Plans. Why can't I have an Android based phone, but NOT have a data plan? I only want an Android phone for apps that I will utilize with WiFi, so why do they make me pay for a data plan just because I want the versatility of an android device in my pocket? (the wifi analyzer app is very useful at work for example) Because of this, I still have my freebie 3 year old phone for my personal phone.
5) Second the bluetooth headsets. Why don't people using them realize that we can hear them still?
6) Turn signals on cars. I mean, no one uses them, so why install them in cars?
The Clock radio at the foot-end of my bed...
(It starts blaring out noise a few minutes after my alarm-clock has given up)
The problem with Cell-phones and telemarketeers in the USA isn't the fault of the manufacturers, but of the lobbyists and consumer advocates.
You're actually PAYING for someone else to call you on them... You accept phones without SIM-cards... (The GSM standard specifies removable cards... )
How exactly did this happen?
As soon as the 12month binding was over on my cell-phone, I was free to change provider or call/data plan to whatever I wanted. I could even have change before the 12months were up, by buying out'. That was back in 1996, though, and the alternative carrier really sucked.
now? I'm still with the same carrier, using a plan that can no longer be requested and which makes my friends green with envy...
Another device I really dislike is 'in car' GPS. Most people who use them seems to be no longer capable of navigating intelligently, often driving narrow mountainroads not wide enough for their vehicles, stopping at long-closed ferry-crossings(not all GPS maps are updated correctly... ) or just plain ignoring roadsigns...
Texting during a job interview?
OK, that's a new one... I do know that the HR people bins applications containing '1337 speak' nearly daily in my organisation.
6) Turn signals on cars. I mean, no one uses them, so why install them in cars?
Most days, you can see some poor sap driving around with his turn signal perpetually on. Some cars self-cancel the signal after a few minutes, but since that doesn't educate/train the driver, he/she will repeat the offense. I think a better option is that after one minute of turn signal operation, the steering wheel is forced into a hard left turn.
I have to admit that I would put cell phones pretty high on the list, but I do have a smart phone that I like having around. I don't text (ok, maybe I receive 1 or 2 a week). I don't make (or receive) that many phone calls but when I do I try to "be polite." If nothing else, I really don't like everyone else hearing my conversations. I avoid using it while driving - although I have made exceptions on highways with light traffic and good visibility.
However, I really like getting/sending email from my phone.
I cringe every time I see a driver holding a cell phone while making a left/right turn at an intersection. Maybe my car requires more steering wheel turning than others, but the idea of making the turn with only one hand...
I have no interest in social media. Except, I have found it useful to get twitter feeds from companies that use them as if they were RSS feeds. I have an account for this purpose but have never tweeted anything.
What do you suppose the average age of posters in this thread is?
-Phil
I'm guessing 62.4
To anyone under age 30, neither cell phone, nor Facebooger, nor urinal advertising technology is anything "high-tech": it's just the way things have always been.
Sylvi369: I don't have trouble w telemarketers. I discovered years ago that the little panels the the boiler room slaves use include a button called the "PITA" (means what you think). Also, these companies work on MARGIN, just like every other for profit. So basically, if you pretend to be interested and waste 20 minutes of the marketer's time, you have killed the PROFIT on nearly 4 hours or so of phoning. The slave immediately pushes the PITA button and this info is kept in the record and SOLD along w all other data base info. I had to do it twice about 4 years ago and haven't had a real telemarketer call since. (I do get charities, because I'm more polite w them).
Well, it's a moot point now, unless they start destroying cell phones as well, but if that had been a reliable way of getting rid of them at the time I was having problems, I'd have certainly gotten rid of them, because I used to play "keep the telemarketer on the line", and I was pretty good at it - but I kept getting the calls.
I'm 50. I don't do social media, and I hope to never fall into that trap. I do like my Android phone, and I find texting useful (for example, to tell people where to find me in a restaurant, where I'd never dream of picking up the phone and talking), and I love having the baseball games going on my phone in real time. I think that Google Maps' ability to direct to me (say) the nearest hobby shop or hardware store is as "killer app" as anything I've seen, particularly with gas at over $3/gallon. Almost all of the emails I get on it are things I could certainly have gone without until I'd arrived at home, but about twice a month I get one that I really did want to see immediately - for example, the recent news that a noted psychologist agreed to be the discussant for my symposium at a national conference next May. Because I got it immediately I was able to settle some things with others involved right away and didn't have to go back and hunt them down later (and we were all high-fiving each other over the news).
Here's my list: .....
6) Turn signals on cars. I mean, no one uses them, so why install them in cars?
So this is a far wider problem than I first thought. Here in Dunedin, New Zealand, we often (blackly) joke that around Xmas large numbers of drivers have their turn signals (we call them indicators) removed and placed on their Xmas trees.
Around here [1], people do seem to use turn signals - just not when I'd expect them too. The normal use seems to be this: start slowing down (brake lights on), come to an almost complete stop, turn on turn signal, make turn. This would be any normal left or right turn - not at a stop sign, traffic light, or other traffic control device.
There's very little concept of letting people know ahead of time what you are planning to do.
Turn signal use is prevalent here, too (western Washington State). My town just got a couple of new round-a-bouts, though, and I wish people would use their turn signals to indicate that they're continuing to go around. The round-a-bouts are small enough that it's hard to tell in time whether the person in the circle is going to exit or not. There have been a couple accidents and numerous close calls from people entering the round-a-bout not yielding.
So this is a far wider problem than I first thought. Here in Dunedin, New Zealand, we often (blackly) joke that around Xmas large numbers of drivers have their turn signals (we call them indicators) removed and placed on their Xmas trees.
Sure, but then again, you Kiwis drive on the wrong side of the road to begin with...!
Around here [1], people do seem to use turn signals - just not when I'd expect them too. The normal use seems to be this: start slowing down (brake lights on), come to an almost complete stop, turn on turn signal, make turn. This would be any normal left or right turn - not at a stop sign, traffic light, or other traffic control device.
I suspect that these people believe that the turn signal is somehow connected to the steering column in a way that means you have to turn the signal on to turn the wheel. I can think of no other explanation for this inane behavior. These people should be slowly pushed into oncoming traffic.
Okay, I don't really mean it. But this kind of complete unconcern about what's going on around you while driving should be stopped somehow.
.... But this kind of complete unconcern about what's going on around you while driving should be stopped somehow.
And "this kind of complete unconcern" is prevalent in so many other activities like .... (back on topic) .... cell phone use at the movies, live theatre, .......
The news media! It seams that it is generally all bad news or political advertisements. Then there are all those commercials that try to sell you stuff you never need. I'd like to see a few commercials with companies requesting applicants and hiring. Lately, I've found myself changing the channel when the news comes on.
My list of least favorite "high tech" devices is short: the phone in all its guises. It's basically an interrupt-driven system calculated to annoy you just as you sit down for dinner and at other inconvenient times. I prefer email, which can be read by the receiver at their convenience (not mine) and is much less disruptive.
I'm sure my opinion isn't very popular in today's world where many people literally have a wireless headset attached to their ear at all times (shades of Lt. Uhura).
My list of least favorite "high tech" devices is short: the phone in all its guises. It's basically an interrupt-driven system calculated to annoy you just as you sit down for dinner and at other inconvenient times. I prefer email, which can be read by the receiver at their convenience (not mine) and is much less disruptive.
I'm sure my opinion isn't very popular in today's world where many people literally have a wireless headset attached to their ear at all times (shades of Lt. Uhura).
I strongly suspect that we will see a day in the not-too-distant future when talking on a telephone is something that only a few people in some specialized positions do. It's terribly inefficient and disruptive, and very prone to error. I imagine that a generation or so out, people will look back and wonder how we could have ever agreed to let our lives be so disrupted by that strange little device.
In a related vein, I'm already hearing from young people that they will not watch any television that has advertisements. Specifically, if a show they want to watch is only on Hulu.com, they won't watch it. They might look for a commercial-free version on Netflix or YouTube, but they whine about commercials as though they involved actual physical torture.
My list of least favorite "high tech" devices is short: the phone in all its guises. It's basically an interrupt-driven system calculated to annoy you just as you sit down for dinner and at other inconvenient times...
That's the way I view phones. I associate them with work. And when I am having fun or relaxing, I have more fun if I am away from phones!
I suppose people who never use the phone for business might have a more positive view of phones?
As for my social life, I've never been one to "chit chat" on the phone for hours. However I do like to talk to people in person and will do so for hours.
Wow! I didn't realize there were so many people that had the same thoughts on the Telephone as I. Constant interruptions derailing your thought. It would be ok if I I was in some kind of customer support role where I had to talk with people. But when most of the calls are not related to the task at hand then it's just nusence.
Though that is for a "Telephone that rings". I like telephones that don't ring. ie. Conference calling/scheduled calls. I'm usually in conference calls for most of my working day - very productive. The call is scheduled, the discussion is about the deliverable, it works within the thought stream and not interuptive.
Hmmm, maybe if I remove the bell (ringer) from the phone then I'd like it again. :-) Maybe I can do that with my mobile phone ;-)
I do everything with my cell phone and know people who only own just a cell phone to replace their home phone. Myself, I use my cell phone for internet connection for my laptop when not talking on it.
Comments
Strange.
Why would such a thought leap into your mind with a picture like that?
Must be the new glasses.
Sylvi369: I don't have trouble w telemarketers. I discovered years ago that the little panels the the boiler room slaves use include a button called the "PITA" (means what you think). Also, these companies work on MARGIN, just like every other for profit. So basically, if you pretend to be interested and waste 20 minutes of the marketer's time, you have killed the PROFIT on nearly 4 hours or so of phoning. The slave immediately pushes the PITA button and this info is kept in the record and SOLD along w all other data base info. I had to do it twice about 4 years ago and haven't had a real telemarketer call since. (I do get charities, because I'm more polite w them).
-Phil
http://cgi.ebay.com/Zeo-BP01-Personal-Sleep-Coach/310365098886?_trksid=p1468660.m2000036
1) Most Apple products, but let me explain before you think I am just a plain Apple hater. I love the ingenuity that comes from Apple and the fact that Apple has pushed many aspects of the consumer market into the hands (pun intended) of the consumer. Their ideas are truly clever and many other consumer product manufacturers simple copy Apple's features to have successful designs. They give people tools and toys that are in many cases cutting edge, but............wait for it............BUT, they always give it with limitations that prevent you from enjoying the freedom that their products could really give you. For example, the iPOD is an excellent product, but not being able to use it with whatever music library software I want is ridiculous (iTunes is a joke). Same thing for the iPAD2 and Flash/iTunes. A friend of mine just won an iPAD2 and he is thinking of selling it after using it for a week. Most of the websites he visits frequently use Flash and he has a massive music library that has to be migrated to iTunes to let him use it. It reminds me of Disney's Aladdin cartoon when the genie explains his powers being limited by the lamp: "Phenomonal cosmic powers, but itty bitty living space"
2) Smartphones/texting. It annoys me to see how many people think that they cannot survive a day without a cellphone in their hand so they can tweet, update facebook, text, or listen to music, anywhere anytime. Really? Don't you actually have a life to live as well? A friend of mine was recently conducting an interview with a 20 year old and smack dab in the middle of a question, he got a text. He picked up his phone, read it, AND responded. WOW. Her next statement was "I think we are done here". People actually think that it is okay to text during a job interview....that is really sad.
3) Facebook. As I have said before, Facebook is simply a place to let your inner junior-higher run free. It's great for people like my wife that use it to keep tabs with long distance friends and to share kid pictures with family, but people that are addicted to it and share every personal detail of their life are really sad.
4) Cellular Service Data Plans. Why can't I have an Android based phone, but NOT have a data plan? I only want an Android phone for apps that I will utilize with WiFi, so why do they make me pay for a data plan just because I want the versatility of an android device in my pocket? (the wifi analyzer app is very useful at work for example) Because of this, I still have my freebie 3 year old phone for my personal phone.
5) Second the bluetooth headsets. Why don't people using them realize that we can hear them still?
6) Turn signals on cars. I mean, no one uses them, so why install them in cars?
The Clock radio at the foot-end of my bed...
(It starts blaring out noise a few minutes after my alarm-clock has given up)
The problem with Cell-phones and telemarketeers in the USA isn't the fault of the manufacturers, but of the lobbyists and consumer advocates.
You're actually PAYING for someone else to call you on them... You accept phones without SIM-cards... (The GSM standard specifies removable cards... )
How exactly did this happen?
As soon as the 12month binding was over on my cell-phone, I was free to change provider or call/data plan to whatever I wanted. I could even have change before the 12months were up, by buying out'. That was back in 1996, though, and the alternative carrier really sucked.
now? I'm still with the same carrier, using a plan that can no longer be requested and which makes my friends green with envy...
Another device I really dislike is 'in car' GPS. Most people who use them seems to be no longer capable of navigating intelligently, often driving narrow mountainroads not wide enough for their vehicles, stopping at long-closed ferry-crossings(not all GPS maps are updated correctly... ) or just plain ignoring roadsigns...
Texting during a job interview?
OK, that's a new one... I do know that the HR people bins applications containing '1337 speak' nearly daily in my organisation.
Most days, you can see some poor sap driving around with his turn signal perpetually on. Some cars self-cancel the signal after a few minutes, but since that doesn't educate/train the driver, he/she will repeat the offense. I think a better option is that after one minute of turn signal operation, the steering wheel is forced into a hard left turn.
No good?
-Phil
However, I really like getting/sending email from my phone.
I cringe every time I see a driver holding a cell phone while making a left/right turn at an intersection. Maybe my car requires more steering wheel turning than others, but the idea of making the turn with only one hand...
I have no interest in social media. Except, I have found it useful to get twitter feeds from companies that use them as if they were RSS feeds. I have an account for this purpose but have never tweeted anything.
I'm guessing 62.4
To anyone under age 30, neither cell phone, nor Facebooger, nor urinal advertising technology is anything "high-tech": it's just the way things have always been.
Well, it's a moot point now, unless they start destroying cell phones as well, but if that had been a reliable way of getting rid of them at the time I was having problems, I'd have certainly gotten rid of them, because I used to play "keep the telemarketer on the line", and I was pretty good at it - but I kept getting the calls.
I'm 50. I don't do social media, and I hope to never fall into that trap. I do like my Android phone, and I find texting useful (for example, to tell people where to find me in a restaurant, where I'd never dream of picking up the phone and talking), and I love having the baseball games going on my phone in real time. I think that Google Maps' ability to direct to me (say) the nearest hobby shop or hardware store is as "killer app" as anything I've seen, particularly with gas at over $3/gallon. Almost all of the emails I get on it are things I could certainly have gone without until I'd arrived at home, but about twice a month I get one that I really did want to see immediately - for example, the recent news that a noted psychologist agreed to be the discussant for my symposium at a national conference next May. Because I got it immediately I was able to settle some things with others involved right away and didn't have to go back and hunt them down later (and we were all high-fiving each other over the news).
So this is a far wider problem than I first thought. Here in Dunedin, New Zealand, we often (blackly) joke that around Xmas large numbers of drivers have their turn signals (we call them indicators) removed and placed on their Xmas trees.
There's very little concept of letting people know ahead of time what you are planning to do.
[1] SW Ohio
-Phil
Sure, but then again, you Kiwis drive on the wrong side of the road to begin with...!
No good?
I suspect that these people believe that the turn signal is somehow connected to the steering column in a way that means you have to turn the signal on to turn the wheel. I can think of no other explanation for this inane behavior. These people should be slowly pushed into oncoming traffic.
Okay, I don't really mean it. But this kind of complete unconcern about what's going on around you while driving should be stopped somehow.
And "this kind of complete unconcern" is prevalent in so many other activities like .... (back on topic) .... cell phone use at the movies, live theatre, .......
I'm sure my opinion isn't very popular in today's world where many people literally have a wireless headset attached to their ear at all times (shades of Lt. Uhura).
I strongly suspect that we will see a day in the not-too-distant future when talking on a telephone is something that only a few people in some specialized positions do. It's terribly inefficient and disruptive, and very prone to error. I imagine that a generation or so out, people will look back and wonder how we could have ever agreed to let our lives be so disrupted by that strange little device.
In a related vein, I'm already hearing from young people that they will not watch any television that has advertisements. Specifically, if a show they want to watch is only on Hulu.com, they won't watch it. They might look for a commercial-free version on Netflix or YouTube, but they whine about commercials as though they involved actual physical torture.
That's the way I view phones. I associate them with work. And when I am having fun or relaxing, I have more fun if I am away from phones!
I suppose people who never use the phone for business might have a more positive view of phones?
As for my social life, I've never been one to "chit chat" on the phone for hours. However I do like to talk to people in person and will do so for hours.
Wow! I didn't realize there were so many people that had the same thoughts on the Telephone as I. Constant interruptions derailing your thought. It would be ok if I I was in some kind of customer support role where I had to talk with people. But when most of the calls are not related to the task at hand then it's just nusence.
Though that is for a "Telephone that rings". I like telephones that don't ring. ie. Conference calling/scheduled calls. I'm usually in conference calls for most of my working day - very productive. The call is scheduled, the discussion is about the deliverable, it works within the thought stream and not interuptive.
Hmmm, maybe if I remove the bell (ringer) from the phone then I'd like it again. :-) Maybe I can do that with my mobile phone ;-)