Back to film and fun.

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I'm with you man, I like the peace and quiet of knowing that I don't have to be at the beck and call of some stupid piece of plastic.

It is possible to turn a mobile phone off and leave it at home.
But I understand the mindset. I used to not have a mobile phone until I got divorced. I no longer have a landline, only a mobile, and it is a bit liberating, actually. I was reluctant, but am happy I did it.

Polaroids? Why not? My girlfriend uses a Spectra, and we tried to fix her up with a Landcamera, but couldn't make the shutter work. She found it very addicting.

 

[Roger Cole]

It's certainly possible to turn the phone off. I don't know about leaving it at home. When I've (very rarely) done that accidentally it's produced very real anxiety. If I'm anywhere near home when I realize I'll just turn around and go back and get it.

Your lives as you've known them are over. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile.

 

[NedL]

Your lives as you've known them are over. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile.

Ha!

I had a cell phone about 15 years ago and what I found is that everyone expects you to answer any time. I work at home and my schedule is usually from very early in the morning ( usually before 5AM ) to mid-afternoon. A lot of my colleagues roll in to work at 10 and don't leave until 6 or 7PM. Usually they'd run into their problems sometime after I'd already worked 10 hours and then start calling me...so the cell phone turned me into an on-call slave 24 hours a day. ( My colleagues on the East coast or in Europe also calling early... )

One day I just decided I was totally sick of it. I have a land line in my home office and if I'm working I'll be there to answer the phone. I threw away the cell phone and I've never looked back. I've thought of getting one for personal use, but I am *sure* the number will eventually get in everyone's hands again... it's just a sure bet that one day it will be easier for me to tell someone to call on my cell and that will be the beginning of the end of my peace.

I have thought about buying a "paygo" phone to keep in my car for emergencies... maybe...

Believe it or not I think this actually is related to why film photography appeals to me, but I don't have time to type it all out now. I want to go to my closet ( aka darkroom ) and make some prints!

 

[Roger Cole]

Well they can expect what they like. I will do what *I* like, and I don't answer it unless I want to. I actually have two, my personal one and a company issued one. The latter I never, ever, carry except for the one week every two months I'm on call, and I leave the ringer off then, but that's for special reason. Even three years after I took this job I get calls from bill collectors for a former owner of the number, so many it would drive me crazy to leave the ringer on. I actually just posted my personal cell on the work call outs page. No one abuses it. Some colleagues have it in their phone books but only use it when it's justified. I carry the work one when I'm on call because I can still get work email through it more easily than through my personal one.

As for the personal one - any number I don't recognize I don't answer. They can leave a voice mail. If I want to call them back I will and if I don't I won't. If they don't leave a message they didn't want to talk to me very badly.

I really have trouble imagining life without my smartphone, but you have to be smarter than what you're working with. Since I started with a Star Trek reference, to quote Spock from TOS, "Computers make excellent and efficient servants but I have no wish to serve under them."

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

...what I found is that everyone expects you to answer any time.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

And the winning continues!

Ken

 

[Roger Cole]

You need to adjust their expectations. I have a phone for my needs, not theirs.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

You need to adjust their expectations. I have a phone for my needs, not theirs.

Oh but I have. Both for them and for myself.

They know I don't even own one, so their expectations are forced to zero. And I know I'm not so narcissistic that it can't wait until I see them. Or find a regular telephone.

Mercifully, you'll never be forced while washing your hands at Seattle-Tacoma Airport after a flight to listen to me trying to close a business deal while I'm sitting on the can. And I am perfectly capable of selecting a brand of toilet paper without needing to spend one of my lifelines consulting anyone via a cell phone.

Mobile phones thus wouldn't solve any problems for me, but they would create a whole new set of others. And I'm the one who defines what my problems are and which might benefit from a technological solution—not all of the gadget-maker's marketing departments.

Ken

 

[wogster]

Oh but I have. Both for them and for myself.

They know I don't even own one, so their expectations are forced to zero. And I know I'm not so narcissistic that it can't wait until I see them. Or find a regular telephone.

Mercifully, you'll never be forced while washing your hands at Seattle-Tacoma Airport after a flight to listen to me trying to close a business deal while I'm sitting on the can. And I am perfectly capable of selecting a brand of toilet paper without needing to spend one of my lifelines consulting anyone via a cell phone.

Mobile phones thus wouldn't solve any problems for me, but they would create a whole new set of others. And I'm the one who defines what my problems are and which might benefit from a technological solution—not all of the gadget-maker's marketing departments.

Ken

There are 3 options, when it comes to answering a phone at an inopportune time

1) Turn phone off, it immediately goes to voice mail, if you can't resist answering the phone, this is a good method.
2) Ignore the phone if it is turned on, there is no law that you must answer a phone that rings.
3) Answer phone, with Can't talk right now, can I call you back?

I like being out of contact by not having a cell phone, because I know that some people will expect that the phone is always turned on, always answered, and that talking to them is the most important thing in your life.

Once upon a time I worked shift work, if on nights, before I went to bed I would turn the volume off and unplug the phone from the back of the answering machine. When I got up I checked the messages, and returned those that left messages and were important. Funny though how many people would not leave a message and then call after I got up with, "I have been trying to call you all day, but you didn't answer the phone" and the only thing you think is, "why didn't you leave a message?"

 

[tnabbott]

When I look at one of my E6 slides under a light, I can see the etching created from the chemical process I completed a few hours before on the film. Digital just does not have that feeling.