Then came the spam calls. At all hours. Dr. Ozimek knew, in his heart, that no one he wanted to talk to was ringing. And yet. “That’s how we were raised. You

Then came the spam calls. At all hours. Dr. Ozimek knew, in his heart, that no one he wanted to talk to was ringing. And yet. “That’s how we were raised. You run to answer the phone,” he says. “It’s like if someone walks up to you and says hello and you were to just stare them in the face and not respond.” After a few months of nonstop ringing, he gave up and unplugged it. Dr. Ozimek has evidently completely forgotten the other part of a wired telephone: the answering machine. It's like voice mail except it's in a little box next to your phone that plays the message as it's being recorded, and automatically stops if you pick up the phone. Which did lead to messages like "Hello? Hello, Peggy? I know you're there. Pick up the phone. Pick up pick up pick up... Okay, I guess you're out. Um, I got your thing, call me when you get back and we'll talk about pickup times. Monday and Thursday evening next week are probably good for me."