Telephone
I hate telephones. This might not be so terrible if I didn't also hate checking my voicemail. I have an inexplicable aversion to picking up the telephone. The telephones on campus ring three times before going to voicemail. This further encourages me to not pick up my phone, given that the annoying ringing isn't terribly persistent. My friends have often been witness to my phone ringing. I continue business as normal. At first they would look between me and the phone, the obvious question on their lips, "Aren't you going to pick it up?" No. I will not pick it up, nor will I make any motion to pick it up. The person on the other line doesn't necessarily know that I heard the phone ringing and chose to ignore it. Now my friends have given up hope that I will pick up the phone, we all continue with our business as the phone rings, neglected, in the corner.
I think perhaps I despise the telephone because it requires constant attention. When someone's talking to you on the phone, you don't get the benefit of their expressions and body language, but you still have to engage them and pay attention to them. With instant messenger, when conversation peters you, you both just stop talking and go back to Snood. With the telephone, however, there is often the awkward phone silence. Neither person knows what to say, but you feel like you should say something, since you've gone to the effort of calling. Even worse is when you know there was something you meant to tell the other person, but you can't remember it quickly enough to keep them on the line. For example:
"...so then I said, 'Get out of my pie, you stupid cat'!"
"Hahaha. Yeah."
"Yeah."
"......"
"......"
"So..."
"Yeah..."
AWKWARD. And I'd rather avoid it whenever possible. I'm not the typical girl, I suppose, in that I've never found incredible satisfaction in chatting on the phone. I'm more a fan of the man approach, where you use the phone to convey information quickly, keeping conversation Spartan. I feel most of the time that phones should only be used to explain homework to someone or to organize a meeting with someone. It always grates my mother, who insists on conversing over the phone, that I can't stop my desperate need to multitask. She always comments on it when she can hear me tapping away at my computer, finishing up my English paper or blogging. The beauty of talking to somebody over the internet is that they recognize that you're probably multitasking and accept it. And when you're talking to somebody face to face, you can look at them, and I don't feel the need to do three other things at the same time.
The other thing that makes me weary of phones, especially public phones, is phacne. How if you rub the telephone receiver on your chin inadvertently, you get everyone's mouth germs there and it gives you acne. That's just a little disgusting. Kind of like how people on campus can't seem to put their damn cellphones down while they're walking, even while walking with friends. But that's a rant for another day.
Ring, ring, ring, ring, banana phone!
Sorry, banana phone, I'm never going to pick you up, even if you're cool because you're made from my imagination.
I think perhaps I despise the telephone because it requires constant attention. When someone's talking to you on the phone, you don't get the benefit of their expressions and body language, but you still have to engage them and pay attention to them. With instant messenger, when conversation peters you, you both just stop talking and go back to Snood. With the telephone, however, there is often the awkward phone silence. Neither person knows what to say, but you feel like you should say something, since you've gone to the effort of calling. Even worse is when you know there was something you meant to tell the other person, but you can't remember it quickly enough to keep them on the line. For example:
"...so then I said, 'Get out of my pie, you stupid cat'!"
"Hahaha. Yeah."
"Yeah."
"......"
"......"
"So..."
"Yeah..."
AWKWARD. And I'd rather avoid it whenever possible. I'm not the typical girl, I suppose, in that I've never found incredible satisfaction in chatting on the phone. I'm more a fan of the man approach, where you use the phone to convey information quickly, keeping conversation Spartan. I feel most of the time that phones should only be used to explain homework to someone or to organize a meeting with someone. It always grates my mother, who insists on conversing over the phone, that I can't stop my desperate need to multitask. She always comments on it when she can hear me tapping away at my computer, finishing up my English paper or blogging. The beauty of talking to somebody over the internet is that they recognize that you're probably multitasking and accept it. And when you're talking to somebody face to face, you can look at them, and I don't feel the need to do three other things at the same time.
The other thing that makes me weary of phones, especially public phones, is phacne. How if you rub the telephone receiver on your chin inadvertently, you get everyone's mouth germs there and it gives you acne. That's just a little disgusting. Kind of like how people on campus can't seem to put their damn cellphones down while they're walking, even while walking with friends. But that's a rant for another day.
Ring, ring, ring, ring, banana phone!
Sorry, banana phone, I'm never going to pick you up, even if you're cool because you're made from my imagination.
posted by Meredith at 11:39 AM
2 Comments:
I always think that you know if you get on with someone by the litmus test of the telephone conversation.
If you can keep a conversation going about *random* stuff for a while, you get on with them pretty well or are close to them as a friend.
I would definitely agree with that, actually. My close friends and I can definitely keep conversations on the phone going about nothing/random things, when they can get me on the phone, at least.
Others, well...
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