Due to a range of circumstances I am phoneless for the next few days. My husband is convinced I will go crazy. I am sure I will be fine.
I was an early cell phone resistor and didn't get one until the spring of 2002 when I was job hunting. I have found it useful but not required in life. I am capable of going off for a day without my phone - unless I am traveling long distance and need to be in communication with others.
I do not feel the need for instant communication that so many others do. I am happy to be by myself and not have to talk to anyone who is not with me. Or text. Or email.
It allows me to take the escape to the outdoors to the next level where not only do I not have to check my phone, no one can call, email, text or tweet with something as well. Especially no doctor can attempt to contact me either.
The way I figure it. There are always old fashioned ways of finding people. Leave messages and they get back to you. If its that important you can find another way to get through. If its really important it will be on the news.
Showing posts with label telephone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label telephone. Show all posts
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Is the internet a substitute for the telephone?
So I created a blog for family and friends to follow my medical adventures, first with breast cancer and then with all my other medical maladies. It allows me to opine and whine to my heart's content. It also was meant to allow me to communicate my medical crap (that technical word again) to those who I thought should know in away which allowed me not to repeat the same thing again and again. I also get to have some control over how I convey the news - sometimes I don't tell things until I am ready to. Its a tiny bit of control over the chaos of my medical issues.
Some people started reading my blog and stopped. Some people never started reading my blog - some simply don't go on line at home and can't do personal computer things at work, some just don't care to keep up with it, what ever their reason, that's not how they chose to keep up. Some people read my blog regularly, some read it occasionally. What's funny with the people who read my blog regularly, when I hear from them, sometimes I think that they think we have been talking regularly so when we do talk, the conversations are punctuated with 'didn't I tell you that already?' I see the humor in it.
There are people who don't read my blog and we keep up on Facebook as I whine there regularly. I don't know how I survived without FB. I am back in touch with my elementary school friends, as well as college friends, and cancer friends. And relatives are there too. My mother just got on FB to keep up with my cousin, who is spending the summer in Alaska, and her photographs - which she posts weekly when she is actually near an internet site. I am also on LinkedIn and several other online communities. Actually I am on so many online communities I can't keep up unless they send me reminders and updates - or I forget about them. (And how do I keep track of all these passwords - that's another story all together...)
Then there are the people I never hear from - who don't read my blog, don't go on FB,dont go on LinkedIn or other sites, and and never pick up the phone. Are they supposed to be friends? But I digress - that's another story.
But then there is a whole world of people out there who care about me - who I have never met - and who read my blog or stay in touch on FB. They are friends of friends and cancer friends who I connected with on varying online communities. They are friends who I will probably never meet.
But where is the telephone in all this? We know text has replaced phone calls as a means of communication. I don't text much so that doesn't really count for me. But the phone doesn't ring my either. I do get regular phone calls reminding me about doctor appointments and follow up from doctor offices. But I don't talk much on the phone anymore.
Is the internet replacing the telephone in my day to day communication? I think it is. I can communicate with many at once instead of calling one at a time. And then what I do online is waiting for others when they log on. The convenience of the internet vs. leaving voicemail for one person.
Some people started reading my blog and stopped. Some people never started reading my blog - some simply don't go on line at home and can't do personal computer things at work, some just don't care to keep up with it, what ever their reason, that's not how they chose to keep up. Some people read my blog regularly, some read it occasionally. What's funny with the people who read my blog regularly, when I hear from them, sometimes I think that they think we have been talking regularly so when we do talk, the conversations are punctuated with 'didn't I tell you that already?' I see the humor in it.
There are people who don't read my blog and we keep up on Facebook as I whine there regularly. I don't know how I survived without FB. I am back in touch with my elementary school friends, as well as college friends, and cancer friends. And relatives are there too. My mother just got on FB to keep up with my cousin, who is spending the summer in Alaska, and her photographs - which she posts weekly when she is actually near an internet site. I am also on LinkedIn and several other online communities. Actually I am on so many online communities I can't keep up unless they send me reminders and updates - or I forget about them. (And how do I keep track of all these passwords - that's another story all together...)
Then there are the people I never hear from - who don't read my blog, don't go on FB,dont go on LinkedIn or other sites, and and never pick up the phone. Are they supposed to be friends? But I digress - that's another story.
But then there is a whole world of people out there who care about me - who I have never met - and who read my blog or stay in touch on FB. They are friends of friends and cancer friends who I connected with on varying online communities. They are friends who I will probably never meet.
But where is the telephone in all this? We know text has replaced phone calls as a means of communication. I don't text much so that doesn't really count for me. But the phone doesn't ring my either. I do get regular phone calls reminding me about doctor appointments and follow up from doctor offices. But I don't talk much on the phone anymore.
Is the internet replacing the telephone in my day to day communication? I think it is. I can communicate with many at once instead of calling one at a time. And then what I do online is waiting for others when they log on. The convenience of the internet vs. leaving voicemail for one person.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)