Re: [NTLK] OT: Your prompt reply is appreciated (nay, compulsory)

Hello,

--- On Fri, 10/9/09, L.W. Brown <lwb@mac.com> wrote:

> You mean, no one of you folks had a boss, coworker or customer - or
> close relative - treat the old land-line phone (or faxes)
> exactly the same way?!?!?

I agree that the ability to reach out and abuse people has always been there. But I'm not sure it's ever been present to *quite* the same maddening (or pleasing, depending on how you view it) extent as it is today, in 2009.

For example, in the old days, if I was between planes and wanted to talk to someone, it typically involved:

1) Having the correct change needed to make the call (if I didn't have this, I then needed to take the steps necessary to procure the correct quantity/denomination of coins).
2) Being able to locate a phone.
3) Being able to locate a phone that some other insistent bore wasn't intent on monopolizing until the sun became a burnt-out cinder. :/

Nowadays, none of those steps are necessary: I just pull the phone out my pocket and make the call. Likewise for emails: I no longer need a full-blown laptop to send and receive emails; a pocket-sized device will get the job done.

Unfortunately, with the ability to *make* phone calls/send emails from just about anywhere, and at any time, a concomitant expectation seems to have been created (at least with some folks) that phone calls and emails can/should also be *answered* just about anywhere (and at any time). And the days of someone needing to know exactly where I am in order to reach me (e.g. to have the restaurant bring a phone to the table) are, for better or for worse, long gone.

I suppose that's what I was trying to get at: there's a different set of dynamics that has only comparatively recently come into play due to the inherent limitations of the older technology. Sure, people were perfectly capable of being annoying in the days of landlines and fax machines, but their ability to imitate hemorrhoids was at least somewhat hampered by the fact that landlines and fax machines were fixed into position and couldn't be had everywhere you went (e.g. even the most unreasonable boss wasn't likely to insist that you lug the fax machine into the can with you).

But the same boss (or friend) who 20 years ago wouldn't have dreamed of telling you to drag a fax machine (or landline) around everywhere can now toss you a cell phone/Blackberry and insist that you be at their beck and call 24/7. Something that was more difficult (and more expensive, certainly) to achieve back when cell phones were a comparative rarity and computing necessarily involved a desk of some kind.

Best,

James Fraser

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Received on Tue Oct 13 21:34:56 2009