17 ms·

I think you're missing the case where the hospital is trying to let you know about the state of your loved one.

wongarsu 4y ago
How often is that happening out of the blue? Sure, if a loved one has a serious health condition try to be reachable. But it's not something most people have to be concerned about.
- SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
  > How often is that happening out of the blue? Very rarely, but I'd rather know that not. That's pretty much the idea of an emergency. I know I've had a handful of them in my life and I think they were worth it. If you don't want to be available for those, fair enough.
  - lrvick 4y ago
    If that is really the only reason to carry a device, and not because of any addiction to surveillance capitalism services, then a pager is likely a reasonable middle ground.
    - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
      Of course the only reasons I own a cell phone aren't just emergency calls and "surveillance capitalism services", but they could also effectively geofence with a pager, could they not? It's still a phone number that's being connected to cell towers.
      - lrvick 4y ago
        Most pagers are one-way receive-only devices with no transmit ability. Messages are spammed to -every- tower and your device will pick it up if in range. You can not track a pager any more than you can track an FM radio.
        SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
        Huh, I didn't know that. So, wait, they send the pager message across the entire service area? How big is this range? Can it be nationwide? And that carries some privacy implications too, doesn't it? I can't imagine these message are encrypted. Also, are we now asking that emergency services start sending out paging messages to the next of kin?
        lrvick 4y ago
        Nationwide coverage is more expensive, but is an option in most plans, yes. Some pagers support encryption for even higher fees but consider it to be no stronger than SMS.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  My older brother habitually turns his phone off when he goes to bed. Not even legitimate calls from family could make it through. So when I tried to contact him urgently about our younger brother, I got nothing but voicemail. I left a voicemail, and he got back to me in the morning. My younger brother had since died. He'd have died anyway. Sure. But still, I have to tell you that my older brother was really upset knowing he had missed that call by his own choice.
  - csdvrx 4y ago
    From the parent poster: > > "I think you're missing the case where the hospital is trying to let you know about the state of your loved one." But how is any information about the state of someone will impact the course of actions for that person? > He'd have died anyway Exactly this. Maybe it's stoicism, but personally I don't know how I would be upset about actions I couldn't change. If anything, the voicemail saved your brother a good night of sleep, that would have been otherwise wasted doing... what exactly? Pre mourning? Creating some familial unity by suffering together? Scaring him emotionally by having to hold the hand of a dying person? I just don't understand all this.

How often is that happening out of the blue? Sure, if a loved one has a serious health condition try to be reachable. But it's not something most people have to be concerned about.

SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
> How often is that happening out of the blue? Very rarely, but I'd rather know that not. That's pretty much the idea of an emergency. I know I've had a handful of them in my life and I think they were worth it. If you don't want to be available for those, fair enough.
- lrvick 4y ago
  If that is really the only reason to carry a device, and not because of any addiction to surveillance capitalism services, then a pager is likely a reasonable middle ground.
  - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
    Of course the only reasons I own a cell phone aren't just emergency calls and "surveillance capitalism services", but they could also effectively geofence with a pager, could they not? It's still a phone number that's being connected to cell towers.
    - lrvick 4y ago
      Most pagers are one-way receive-only devices with no transmit ability. Messages are spammed to -every- tower and your device will pick it up if in range. You can not track a pager any more than you can track an FM radio.
      - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
        Huh, I didn't know that. So, wait, they send the pager message across the entire service area? How big is this range? Can it be nationwide? And that carries some privacy implications too, doesn't it? I can't imagine these message are encrypted. Also, are we now asking that emergency services start sending out paging messages to the next of kin?
        lrvick 4y ago
        Nationwide coverage is more expensive, but is an option in most plans, yes. Some pagers support encryption for even higher fees but consider it to be no stronger than SMS.
rootusrootus 4y ago
My older brother habitually turns his phone off when he goes to bed. Not even legitimate calls from family could make it through. So when I tried to contact him urgently about our younger brother, I got nothing but voicemail. I left a voicemail, and he got back to me in the morning. My younger brother had since died. He'd have died anyway. Sure. But still, I have to tell you that my older brother was really upset knowing he had missed that call by his own choice.
- csdvrx 4y ago
  From the parent poster: > > "I think you're missing the case where the hospital is trying to let you know about the state of your loved one." But how is any information about the state of someone will impact the course of actions for that person? > He'd have died anyway Exactly this. Maybe it's stoicism, but personally I don't know how I would be upset about actions I couldn't change. If anything, the voicemail saved your brother a good night of sleep, that would have been otherwise wasted doing... what exactly? Pre mourning? Creating some familial unity by suffering together? Scaring him emotionally by having to hold the hand of a dying person? I just don't understand all this.