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>Emergencies don’t come from random numbers. This is an absolute that just plain isn't true. For instance, out-of-state PD calling my sister-in-law from an unr

>Emergencies don’t come from random numbers. This is an absolute that just plain isn't true. For instance, out-of-state PD calling my sister-in-law from an unrecognized number to inform her that her sibling had died suddenly. There are numerous instances where an unrecognized number may need to contact someone for an emergency. I don't say this to disagree with the general sentiment of your post, but I do disagree with that particular statement.

Waterluvian 3y ago
In that example, would the person not have just left a message, “Hi it’s Name, please call me back right away”? I just don’t understand how we got to a place where the way things worked for decades suddenly doesn’t work anymore. We would leave our homes and not be reachable. Most urgent calls aren’t actually “emergencies.”
- jjulius 3y ago
  >In that example, would the person not have just left a message, “Hi it’s Name, please call me back right away”? Sure, but whether or not that suffices for someone is pretty circumstantial. Like I said, I don't disagree with your general sentiment, just the absolute. And hey, change happens, c'est la vie.
- robertlagrant 3y ago
  That's partly true, but also sometimes that was a problem. In the same way mobile phones shouldn't have to worry about working with emergency services numbers as before we had mobile phones we were still calling them. In other words: it is sometimes better to do things that weren't done in the past.
- mcpackieh 3y ago
  Doctors refuse to acknowledge the existence of voice mail. It might be some perceived legal/liability thing or maybe it's just a manifestation of their arrogance, but in my experience no doctor will ever leave a voice mail ever. I fully expect that if one of my relatives ends up incapacitated in the hospital and I'm their first contact, the hospital phonecall will go unanswered (not in my contacts list, so my phone won't ring) and I'll receive no voice mail or SMS.
  - isykt 3y ago
    If your relative ends up incapacitated, it won’t be a doctor who calls, it will be a social worker. They will leave a message. There are other situations that result in a person not being able to answer their phone: being asleep, being in a movie theater, being on an airplane, being in a tunnel, being on a camping trip, having a cell phone that malfunctioned, having a cell phone with a dead battery, being on another call when the call was received, being out of the country and using a local SIM…
  - supertrope 3y ago
    Some doctors offices interpret HIPAA's privacy rule as not letting them release any information until they've verified the far end of the phone call by asking for your name and DOB. So VM is out. I've seen others let you specify on the intake form: Full voicemail OK? Y/N. Brief voicemail OK? Y/N.
- atyppo 3y ago
  Your second point is very interesting to me as someone born in 2000 who's only really known a world where this is true. It seems so distant and novel from where we are today.
- jancsika 3y ago
  > I just don’t understand how we got to a place where the way things worked for decades suddenly doesn’t work anymore. You're making up a past that didn't exist. During the entire period where caller ID existed in the U.S., I can only think of a single person who screened their calls in the way you've outlined. (And that person also happened to screen calls from known numbers, too, so it doesn't really count.) Everyone else would screen obvious calls coming from toll free numbers (1-800, etc.), and just take a chance on the remaining unknown numbers. An answering machine/ringer could be turned off for special occasions, but that's no different than putting a cell in airplane mode or whatever. In fact, there was an entire genre of comedy albums devoted to messing with incoming telemarketer calls during this period. Those albums wouldn't have resonated like they did if most people had been screening all unknown numbers.
isykt 3y ago
How would picking up the phone made any difference here? The sibling is still dead. Finding out whenever you checked your voicemail isn’t going to change that. The same goes for “But what if my kid is throwing up at school?” They’ll deal with it, or someone from your contacts will probably text you. As a sibling comment said, this was our lives for the decades between when the telephone was invented and when cell phones became ubiquitous. I promise it’ll be okay if you don’t leap to answer every unknown call that lights up your screen.
- jjulius 3y ago
  >How would picking up the phone made any difference here? The sibling is still dead. Finding out whenever you checked your voicemail isn’t going to change that. Sure, in that specific instance. But it doesn't have to be strictly for a death. Spouse gets into a car crash, or has some kind of medical emergency, where they're still alive but they're trying to get in touch with someone from the family to notify them of their whereabouts and current condition. >I promise it’ll be okay if you don’t leap to answer every unknown call that lights up your screen. I think you missed the part where I said I agreed with the general sentiment but disagreed with that specific absolute, but thanks for being a touch condescending.
- iamdbtoo 3y ago
  > The sibling is still dead. Finding out whenever you checked your voicemail isn’t going to change that. Maybe so, but my cousin passed away suddenly nearly 10 years ago and I was the one who received the call because his family was out of town. The thought of missing that call because I had to disable unknown numbers because we live in a society that doesn't value privacy enough to leave people alone is really depressing.
  - supertrope 3y ago
    The power of technology means anyone in the world can initiate contact with anyone else. Without a method to moderate initial contact, spam filters, ignore buttons, social etiquette, etc. our phones would ring continuously, our inboxes would get 10,000 emails per day, and our phones would chime continuously with push notifications. Spam is 99% of raw email traffic, and robocalls are a significant fraction of total call count. Nomorobo estimated 1/3.

Waterluvian 3y ago

In that example, would the person not have just left a message, “Hi it’s Name, please call me back right away”? I just don’t understand how we got to a place where the way things worked for decades suddenly doesn’t work anymore. We would leave our homes and not be reachable. Most urgent calls aren’t actually “emergencies.”

jjulius 3y ago
>In that example, would the person not have just left a message, “Hi it’s Name, please call me back right away”? Sure, but whether or not that suffices for someone is pretty circumstantial. Like I said, I don't disagree with your general sentiment, just the absolute. And hey, change happens, c'est la vie.
robertlagrant 3y ago
That's partly true, but also sometimes that was a problem. In the same way mobile phones shouldn't have to worry about working with emergency services numbers as before we had mobile phones we were still calling them. In other words: it is sometimes better to do things that weren't done in the past.
mcpackieh 3y ago
Doctors refuse to acknowledge the existence of voice mail. It might be some perceived legal/liability thing or maybe it's just a manifestation of their arrogance, but in my experience no doctor will ever leave a voice mail ever. I fully expect that if one of my relatives ends up incapacitated in the hospital and I'm their first contact, the hospital phonecall will go unanswered (not in my contacts list, so my phone won't ring) and I'll receive no voice mail or SMS.
- isykt 3y ago
  If your relative ends up incapacitated, it won’t be a doctor who calls, it will be a social worker. They will leave a message. There are other situations that result in a person not being able to answer their phone: being asleep, being in a movie theater, being on an airplane, being in a tunnel, being on a camping trip, having a cell phone that malfunctioned, having a cell phone with a dead battery, being on another call when the call was received, being out of the country and using a local SIM…
- supertrope 3y ago
  Some doctors offices interpret HIPAA's privacy rule as not letting them release any information until they've verified the far end of the phone call by asking for your name and DOB. So VM is out. I've seen others let you specify on the intake form: Full voicemail OK? Y/N. Brief voicemail OK? Y/N.
atyppo 3y ago
Your second point is very interesting to me as someone born in 2000 who's only really known a world where this is true. It seems so distant and novel from where we are today.
jancsika 3y ago
> I just don’t understand how we got to a place where the way things worked for decades suddenly doesn’t work anymore. You're making up a past that didn't exist. During the entire period where caller ID existed in the U.S., I can only think of a single person who screened their calls in the way you've outlined. (And that person also happened to screen calls from known numbers, too, so it doesn't really count.) Everyone else would screen obvious calls coming from toll free numbers (1-800, etc.), and just take a chance on the remaining unknown numbers. An answering machine/ringer could be turned off for special occasions, but that's no different than putting a cell in airplane mode or whatever. In fact, there was an entire genre of comedy albums devoted to messing with incoming telemarketer calls during this period. Those albums wouldn't have resonated like they did if most people had been screening all unknown numbers.

isykt 3y ago

How would picking up the phone made any difference here? The sibling is still dead. Finding out whenever you checked your voicemail isn’t going to change that. The same goes for “But what if my kid is throwing up at school?” They’ll deal with it, or someone from your contacts will probably text you. As a sibling comment said, this was our lives for the decades between when the telephone was invented and when cell phones became ubiquitous. I promise it’ll be okay if you don’t leap to answer every unknown call that lights up your screen.

jjulius 3y ago
>How would picking up the phone made any difference here? The sibling is still dead. Finding out whenever you checked your voicemail isn’t going to change that. Sure, in that specific instance. But it doesn't have to be strictly for a death. Spouse gets into a car crash, or has some kind of medical emergency, where they're still alive but they're trying to get in touch with someone from the family to notify them of their whereabouts and current condition. >I promise it’ll be okay if you don’t leap to answer every unknown call that lights up your screen. I think you missed the part where I said I agreed with the general sentiment but disagreed with that specific absolute, but thanks for being a touch condescending.
iamdbtoo 3y ago
> The sibling is still dead. Finding out whenever you checked your voicemail isn’t going to change that. Maybe so, but my cousin passed away suddenly nearly 10 years ago and I was the one who received the call because his family was out of town. The thought of missing that call because I had to disable unknown numbers because we live in a society that doesn't value privacy enough to leave people alone is really depressing.
- supertrope 3y ago
  The power of technology means anyone in the world can initiate contact with anyone else. Without a method to moderate initial contact, spam filters, ignore buttons, social etiquette, etc. our phones would ring continuously, our inboxes would get 10,000 emails per day, and our phones would chime continuously with push notifications. Spam is 99% of raw email traffic, and robocalls are a significant fraction of total call count. Nomorobo estimated 1/3.