[billethkid]

how and when did the priority change???

As was stated in anothe rpost above...remember when there were only land lines? You got the message when you got home....that is unless you happen to be from the generation that did not even have message machines yet.
And at work/business we have a secretary or assistant or what ever they are called today who took messages. And in a RARE case she came to get you you....very rare.

Then comes the 21st century when everybody has a phone in their pocket, on their waist, in their hand or in their ear. As long as it rings.....THAT becomes the priority. In reality it is not.

I also believe the cell phone priority of today is in fact a social crutch....to hide behind...to use as an excuse....to show importance....to display ultimate discourtesy.

There is no excuse for it. We all have stories....like when we were at the restaurant the other evening. outside TV, there was a family of 5 at the table next to us. Every single one of them was either on the phone talking....or texting....or playing a game. They did not even lift their head when the waiter brought their food. A very sad testimony to the degradation of social value....of family time together.....

I am the unpopular grampa......no phones or electronic devices at our dining table/venue........and the worst one of all....one stays at the table until everybody is done with their meal and then excused. When they whine why? I tell them I want to see their face and be able to talk to them.....they always express a groan....but it works...they survive and we do get to converse.

Unfortunately when we dinosaures disappear the social disgrace we have now will only get worse as these generations grow up knowing nothing except the 2X4 inch screen in their face.......how very, VERY sad.

btk

[JoeC1947]

Originally Posted by memason

Well, I'm guess I'm gonna take the other side of the coin here... I don't really mind, if someone takes a call, when we're together. Most times, the call is very short and doesn't detract from our discussion/outing. If it were to go on for 15 minutes, it might be a different story.

As far as texting.... I do text; a lot! Almost all of my friends, here in the Villages, text. Texting IS communicating. Personally, I would much rather receive a text than a phone call, if it's something simple, like "I'll pick you up at 9:00 for golf tomorrow". When I have time, I might text back, but not necessary. For my friends who cannot text, they wish they could ;-)

If your kids are working, texting is one of the best ways to stay in touch without being too intrusive in their workday. When I call them, I normally talk to their voicemail...

Like everything, you have to practice a little common sense. If I'm with friends, having dinner or something, I almost always send a phone call to voicemail, unless it's something very important and then I will excuse myself for a couple minutes. A text, I will look at and either answer then or later.

Just me...and everyone is different...

Isn't there an app that lets you talk into the phone and it gets converted to text? Does anyone know if it works well?

[ilovetv]

"....our children and their children are learning that 80 characters, or what ever is allowed by text and tweet is the same thing as actually talking to someone."

So true, and it's one of the things I think has eroded and reduced to playground banter the major political campaign discussion in the media, too.

We were already frustrated by serious discussion of world problems and their crises being reduced to the "30 second soundbite" on t.v. Now, serious discussion and national crises have been reduced to the 80 character "tweet".

This is absurd and is teaching our children and grandchildren to completely dismiss the need for in-depth debate and the research and argumentation that it takes to truly inform the public.

[2BNTV]

I tend to look at cell phones as something to be used in an emergency or to be reached if you are out and about and know you need to receive an important message. I agree with memason that one would be better texting in place of not talking to whoever they were with and it is to be kept at a minmum. My son has to take calls from work but he keeps these conversations to a minmum as he is respectful of who he is with. Like me.

I remember two episodes that are applicable:
1. A woman took her daughter to lunch and the daughter spent all her time on her cellphone. I would have ordered, eaten, paid the bill and left her to play with her phone.
2. I used to visit my brother and he became engrossed in the television show and stopped talking to me. If I wanted to watch television instead of talking to hm, I would have stayed home.

I think common sense and etiquette should prevale when socializing with other people instead of being engrossed in social media.

[ilovetv]

Originally Posted by 2BNTV

I tend to look at cell phones as something to be used in an emergency or to be reached if you are out and about and know you need to receive an important message. I agree with memason that one would be better texting in place of not talking to whoever they were with and it is to be kept at a minmum. My son has to take calls from work but he keeps these conversations to a minmum as he is respectful of who he is with. Like me.

I remember two episodes that are applicable:
1. A woman took her daughter to lunch and the daughter spent all her time on her cellphone. I would have ordered, eaten, paid the bill and left her to play with her phone.
2. I used to visit my brother and he became engrossed in the television show and stopped talking to me. If I wanted to watch television instead of talking to hm, I would have stayed home.

I think common sense and etiquette should prevale when socializing with other people instead of being engrossed in social media.

This reminds me of similar behavior with television: Good friends who live out west....we talk on the phone about 4 times a year. Invariably when we call, the answer is: "I can't talk for more than a minute. We're watching a movie." It's usually a recorded movie, not a broadcast one, and all movie/video players have a Pause button.....but they won't use it. A ten-minute phone call ruins their "in-home theater experience".

When calls like this are quite infrequent, I think people could use the pause button.

[2BNTV]

Originally Posted by ilovetv

This reminds me of similar behavior with television: Good friends who live out west....we talk on the phone about 4 times a year. Invariably when we call, the answer is: "I can't talk for more than a minute. We're watching a movie." It's usually a recorded movie, not a broadcast one, and all movie/video players have a Pause button.....but they won't use it. A ten-minute phone call ruins their "in-home theater experience".

When calls like this are quite infrequent, I think people could use the pause button.

Common sense is what is needed. I friend of mine put me on hold to talk to another person when call waiting first became an oprtion. I hung up after a while as I felt he was saying that another person was more important.

If someone calls me in the middle of watching a television priogram, I usually will want to talk to that person over watching something that isn't very important. People are important and how we interface with each other. requires a degree of social grace.

[jebartle]

As my husband says, "Be Where You Are"

Originally Posted by billethkid

how and when did the priority change???

As was stated in anothe rpost above...remember when there were only land lines? You got the message when you got home....that is unless you happen to be from the generation that did not even have message machines yet.
And at work/business we have a secretary or assistant or what ever they are called today who took messages. And in a RARE case she came to get you you....very rare.

Then comes the 21st century when everybody has a phone in their pocket, on their waist, in their hand or in their ear. As long as it rings.....THAT becomes the priority. In reality it is not.

I also believe the cell phone priority of today is in fact a social crutch....to hide behind...to use as an excuse....to show importance....to display ultimate discourtesy.

There is no excuse for it. We all have stories....like when we were at the restaurant the other evening. outside TV, there was a family of 5 at the table next to us. Every single one of them was either on the phone talking....or texting....or playing a game. They did not even lift their head when the waiter brought their food. A very sad testimony to the degradation of social value....of family time together.....

I am the unpopular grampa......no phones or electronic devices at our dining table/venue........and the worst one of all....one stays at the table until everybody is done with their meal and then excused. When they whine why? I tell them I want to see their face and be able to talk to them.....they always express a groan....but it works...they survive and we do get to converse.

Unfortunately when we dinosaures disappear the social disgrace we have now will only get worse as these generations grow up knowing nothing except the 2X4 inch screen in their face.......how very, VERY sad.

btk

[gomoho]

Originally Posted by ilovetv

This reminds me of similar behavior with television: Good friends who live out west....we talk on the phone about 4 times a year. Invariably when we call, the answer is: "I can't talk for more than a minute. We're watching a movie." It's usually a recorded movie, not a broadcast one, and all movie/video players have a Pause button.....but they won't use it. A ten-minute phone call ruins their "in-home theater experience".

When calls like this are quite infrequent, I think people could use the pause button.

You might want to send a text before you call to see if they are busy or free to talk - do that with some friends and it works quite nicely.

[memason]

Originally Posted by JoeC1947

Isn't there an app that lets you talk into the phone and it gets converted to text? Does anyone know if it works well?

iPhone and Android phones have a little microphone icon on the texting screen. If you press the microphone icon, you can talk your text. I does work, but you will have to be sure the translation is what you wanted to say. I have a friend that uses it and I get some of the funniest text messages you can imagine. They NEVER read the text before hitting the send button.


If you have an iPhone, just let Siri send text messages for you.

[casita37]

Recently, there were 4 of us in the car, on a little outing outside The Villages. As we were riding, one of the passengers made a cell phone call and talked for about 15-20 minutes to a relative to discuss, well....just life. Nothing new, nothing important. The other 3 of us just sat mute because we couldn't really talk over her. She didn't bother to modulate her voice. I just hate the loud cell phone voice everyone has!

I was STUNNED by this behavior by a person I consider one of the kindest, nicest,
most considerate people I know.

On the other side of the coin....I wonder what our grandchildren will be complaining about in 50 years. Can't even imagine how far technology will go by then.

[Justjac]

Originally Posted by OldDave

Very good topic. I can tell you already that all our children think we are dinosaurs, though.

When cell phones first became common there were a great tool and convenience. Somewhere along the line, that changed for some people, luckily not everyone. The people you complain about are the ones that are essentially a part of an on going conversation with the world that seems to have to take precedence over whatever is happening in front of them. I truly do not understand this, and I worked in the communications industry most of my life.

I agree that the conversations these folks have seem universally unimportant and mundane. They don't ever seem, to me, to raise to the level of being more important than the people who have chosen to be in your actual presence at the moment.

My 27 year old son is certainly one of those, although for people his age it usually isn't talking it's texting. In fact, he informed me calling someone on their phone is now considered rude. You might be interrupting them. You should text only. Great except for our generation with Consumer Cellular phones that don't text.

Actually this really brings up a sad moment for me. At Christmas my son got to come home for several days after moving to his new job last summer in Dallas. And my daughter was home from college. It was the first chance we'd all been together in month. We're sitting in the living room, with a chance to catch up. I look around the room. My wife is playing a game on her iPad, my daughter is on her computer reading gossip, and my son is texting on his iPhone. I'm being serious here, this was a truly sad moment for me. I sat there for about 5 more minutes and no one spoke to each other. I finally got up and went into my room and watched football, which I wasn't particularly interested in (which is easy when you're a Chiefs fan, lol.)

In all seriousness I think we are damaging our societies ability to communicate. I know this is a bit off topic, but our children and their children are learning that 80 characters, or what ever is allowed by text and tweet is the same thing as actually talking to someone. As I like to say, we moved from smoke signals, to telegraph to telephone to satellite and now we've moved back to telegraph. I truly do worry about this.

Old Dave, you hit it right on the mark "damaging today's society."

People text because they don't want to call and get involved in a conversation...

People phone others while they are in their car, stuck in traffic, because they need to pass the time...

People think it's perfectably acceptable for everyone to listen to their one-way phone conversations while we sit in a dentist or doctor's office, trying hard to concentrate on the magazine article we are quietly reading...

People think it's okay to wander down grocery aisles or Walmart's aisles talking aloud, looking like a lunatic as they argue with whomever is on the other line.

Most cellphone users think nothing of stopping a conversation mid-way because their phone is ringing...

And, how many times has a cashier had to wait for payment because someone stops in the midst of a transaction to answer the cell...while others patiently wait in the line...

Most important, I can tell you of many auto accidents I HAVE avoided because someone was too busy talking on their phone. You will never convince me that cellphones are not distractions...hand-held or hands-free....

I have a cellphone in my car for emergency use only. I have used it once when I had a flat tire. And, I am not a dinosaur. I'm don't even qualify for Social Security yet.

I hope I never become a slave to the invention. Cellphones may serve a purpose but society places way too much importance on them.

[oot]

I think it is funny when people use their bluetooth to talk to others on the phone, and you don't realize it. I was in the elevator today and someone was on one - and I was answering her questions. Felt like a fool as she was not talking to me.

What drives me crazy are people who use their phones while in the rest room. Don't they think the people on the other end might notice all the flushing noises? That is just plain nasty.....

[Bavarian]

The best thing about cell phones? You can be in conact all the time!
The worst thing about cell phones? You can be in conact all the time!


I hear that people in privat industry on in DC are expected to be available to their bosses all the time now when on a vacation. Glad I never had that problem.

Retired Government EE.

[gustavo]

Originally Posted by billethkid

...if they talk on the phone at the table I get up and leave...they get my bill.

btk

Are you saying that cell phone user has to pay for you if they answer there phone?