13 ms·

The book to me is more about society dictating your time, how you think, and how you should feel. Books were only one facet of control. Turn off your phone for

The book to me is more about society dictating your time, how you think, and how you should feel. Books were only one facet of control. Turn off your phone for a day without telling anyone and see how people react.

icebraining 8y ago
> Turn off your phone for a day without telling anyone and see how people react. From my personal experience, they react just fine. Probably wouldn't even notice. Why, how would the people who call you react?
- coldtea 8y ago
  Depends. Do you have a boss, spouse, etc?
  - icebraining 8y ago
    Sure, I've had a few bosses, who don't call me more than a few times a year, and they certainly don't complain if I don't answer outside working hours. I have friends and family who call me much more regularly, but react just fine if I get back to them one or more days later. I'm guessing a spouse would be annoyed if you just disappeared without notice for a day, but then again I doubt this wouldn't be true even before phones.
    - coldtea 8y ago
      >Sure, I've had a few bosses, who don't call me more than a few times a year, and they certainly don't complain if I don't answer outside working hours. Well, if you have a boss and (a) work in the field (as lots of people do, from sales reps and messengers to technicians) or (b) are an exec that travels to meetings, customers, etc, or (c) are responsible for a system that might fail (e.g. a sysadmin, a dev whose work is deployed, etc), you'd be expected to have the phone open all the time. And even if they call "a few times a year", they'd expect to reach someone then. >I'm guessing a spouse would be annoyed if you just disappeared without notice for a day, but then again I doubt this wouldn't be true even before phones. If there's any kind of emergency or semi-emergency (from the babysitter called in sick to the car broke down) the spouse will usually be more than annoyed if they can't find you during the day.
  - bambax 8y ago
    I don't have a boss but I do have a spouse (and 3 kids). It's extremely rare that we call or text one another during the day. We say goodbye to each other in the morning and meet again in the evening. Of course it's useful to have a phone if/when something happens, but most days, nothing happens -- nothing that can't wait being told in the evening. The feeling of "urgency" that mobile phones create is mostly artificial.

icebraining 8y ago

> Turn off your phone for a day without telling anyone and see how people react. From my personal experience, they react just fine. Probably wouldn't even notice. Why, how would the people who call you react?

coldtea 8y ago
Depends. Do you have a boss, spouse, etc?
- icebraining 8y ago
  Sure, I've had a few bosses, who don't call me more than a few times a year, and they certainly don't complain if I don't answer outside working hours. I have friends and family who call me much more regularly, but react just fine if I get back to them one or more days later. I'm guessing a spouse would be annoyed if you just disappeared without notice for a day, but then again I doubt this wouldn't be true even before phones.
  - coldtea 8y ago
    >Sure, I've had a few bosses, who don't call me more than a few times a year, and they certainly don't complain if I don't answer outside working hours. Well, if you have a boss and (a) work in the field (as lots of people do, from sales reps and messengers to technicians) or (b) are an exec that travels to meetings, customers, etc, or (c) are responsible for a system that might fail (e.g. a sysadmin, a dev whose work is deployed, etc), you'd be expected to have the phone open all the time. And even if they call "a few times a year", they'd expect to reach someone then. >I'm guessing a spouse would be annoyed if you just disappeared without notice for a day, but then again I doubt this wouldn't be true even before phones. If there's any kind of emergency or semi-emergency (from the babysitter called in sick to the car broke down) the spouse will usually be more than annoyed if they can't find you during the day.
- bambax 8y ago
  I don't have a boss but I do have a spouse (and 3 kids). It's extremely rare that we call or text one another during the day. We say goodbye to each other in the morning and meet again in the evening. Of course it's useful to have a phone if/when something happens, but most days, nothing happens -- nothing that can't wait being told in the evening. The feeling of "urgency" that mobile phones create is mostly artificial.