My family and friends complain incessantly about what they consider my poor phone etiquette.
Because my phone is mostly kept in a silent mode, I do not answer the phone immediately, choosing to respond after a while after I finish whatever I am engaged in or after meeting whoever I am with.
After active retirement I choose to happily spend long periods alone. Therefore my nature has become enjoying long periods of silence and then a feverish outburst of speech and activity before retreating back into the recesses of my mind. Being comfortable while being alone is a gift, I suppose.
This unfortunately irritates my family, friends, and associates who expect me to be available to answer the phone when it is convenient or expedient for them.
They protest, "What if there is something important?" Important is different from urgent. I know my importance and insignificance in the greater order of existence, and having no delusions about my ability to shape events urgently.
The Universe was running smoothly before I arrived and will continue to do so long after I am gone. So I grant myself this liberty of not taking things and events too urgently nor seriously.
Imagine you are involved in something important, intimate, or personal or resting and you do not wish to be disturbed. Earlier it was easy, we simply shut the door or went somewhere quiet.
We have armies, police, security guards and services to protect us from physical aggression, but who will protect us from mental aggression?
Gone is that luxury of security, for there are countless burglars and thieves who intentionally or otherwise easily break-in into our life and steal both our time and peace of mind.
Smart phones are ubiquitous and almost everyone has one. To put it in the correct perspective mobile phones have come to possess us.
Now almost anyone, from anywhere in the world at anytime of their choosing can invade not only our home and workspace, but also our minds and our privacy. They gobble up our time, and occupy our minds constantly disturbing us with calls.
All this with a few effortless taps of their fingers or an automated computer program.
While emails, messages, mails, gossip, games etc. are accessed by us at our convenience, calls have an urgent life of their own and that is what makes them so detrimental, to our creativity and productivity.
No one is forcing us to have a mobile phone, so why do we not only keep one and quickly jump to answer calls?
This because nowadays a mobile smart phone is more than a mere communication device, it is also used for computing, storage, financial transactions, commerce and creating all sorts of things. An office at our finger tips.
To remain hassle free one has to separate the important from the urgent. Use the phone by all means but restrict ourselves from answering every voice call all the time.
Here is something to think about. Accidents caused by use of mobile phones while driving is the leading cause of death, far exceeding deaths caused by drunken driving.
End Notes:
This article is written with its applicability to our personal not professional lives. Customers, vendors, clients, doctors and soldiers etc. etc. need to respond urgently, so a different approach to be effective without getting enslaved has to be conceived and implemented by our own understanding and experiences.
There's another quirk that has to be understood. It is extremely unwise to not respond promptly to a wife's or girlfriend's call. Only a miracle can save from the ensuing wrath effecting a man's peace of mind should he attempt to be so negligent.
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