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A problem with phone calls is that they interrupt no matter what. The person calling have no idea if they are interrupting. If I am in my home with family or i

by msh 4y ago

A problem with phone calls is that they interrupt no matter what. The person calling have no idea if they are interrupting. If I am in my home with family or in the office with colleagues they can look at me and check if I look busy/occupied and then decide if they want to interrupt me.

heleninboodler 4y ago
> The person calling have no idea if they are interrupting Nor should they care. This is in your control, exactly as it should be: turn the ringer off.
- em-bee 4y ago
  that's what i do. the problem is there is never a good time when an unexpected interruption is ok, unless it's my wife or my kids. so my phone is silent all the time. if a phonecall comes in when i am busy most often i don't even notice it. if i recognize the number i'll call back later. contrary to what others say, calls from friends are usually ok, what bothers me most is spam calls. because not only do i get interrupted, but i get nothing positive from the call either. it's just wasted. with a call from friends at least we end up having a useful conversation which makes up for any lost time.
- gregmac 4y ago
  If they do the same thing, now it takes potentiality days of "phone tag" before you happen to find a time you're both free. With async comms, you initially go back and forth over text/chat/email/whatever. Sometimes resolving in minutes/hours. If you both decide it'd be faster to chat synchronously, you schedule a call and do that. Honestly, that fact async comms exist makes it kind of presumptuous to assume you can make someones device ring at anytime and just get their immediate and full attention. I feel that way both as a caller and callee. There's obviously exceptions, such as immediate family: but we roughly know what each other are doing, and the context. If my wife actually phones me, I will drop whatever I'm doing because it's guaranteed to be more important.

by msh 4y ago

heleninboodler 4y ago

> The person calling have no idea if they are interrupting Nor should they care. This is in your control, exactly as it should be: turn the ringer off.

em-bee 4y ago
that's what i do. the problem is there is never a good time when an unexpected interruption is ok, unless it's my wife or my kids. so my phone is silent all the time. if a phonecall comes in when i am busy most often i don't even notice it. if i recognize the number i'll call back later. contrary to what others say, calls from friends are usually ok, what bothers me most is spam calls. because not only do i get interrupted, but i get nothing positive from the call either. it's just wasted. with a call from friends at least we end up having a useful conversation which makes up for any lost time.
gregmac 4y ago
If they do the same thing, now it takes potentiality days of "phone tag" before you happen to find a time you're both free. With async comms, you initially go back and forth over text/chat/email/whatever. Sometimes resolving in minutes/hours. If you both decide it'd be faster to chat synchronously, you schedule a call and do that. Honestly, that fact async comms exist makes it kind of presumptuous to assume you can make someones device ring at anytime and just get their immediate and full attention. I feel that way both as a caller and callee. There's obviously exceptions, such as immediate family: but we roughly know what each other are doing, and the context. If my wife actually phones me, I will drop whatever I'm doing because it's guaranteed to be more important.