As we continue the crusade..

I hope everyone noticed the spice headlines on Monday and, in particular, the article about phone numbers being extinct in five to 10 years – something I have been banging on about for quite some time now. Or, more to the point, I simply believe unexpected or unplanned phone calls are socially unacceptable – something which the more lazy/rude folk out there will only grasp when there precious security-blankets disappear.

When phone numbers are extinct (very soon, it seems), only then will the naysayers understand what I have been saying all along. Because they will have no choice but to comply with a logical socially-acceptable system which is plainly obvious to those who have chosen to remove their blinkers.

I’m all for talking when necessary, but the point is people will only be able to call each other on Skype, or Google phone etc. when they are “online” – ie. ABLE to take a call – this is something which people are unable to gauge with phone-calls. So they just go ahead and phone the other person, when it suits them.

If you’re frothing at the mouth at this, or any other stage during this article, I urge you to stop reading and ask yourself what you will do when your phone number is gone? Because it’s a FACT that It will be gone and you will need to adjust your social habits very quickly – so why not start now? More people than you think are are behaving in this way.

It’s where we are.

Deal with it.

More on this, with case studies and continued arguments, after the jump.

And If you don’t believe me – check out this piece from Wired:

According to Nielsen, the average number of mobile phone calls we make is dropping every year, after hitting a peak in 2007. And our calls are getting shorter: In 2005 they averaged three minutes in length; now they’re almost half that.We’re moving, in other words, toward a fascinating cultural transition: the death of the telephone call. This shift is particularly stark among the young. Some college students I know go days without talking into their smartphones at all. I was recently hanging out with a twentysomething entrepreneur who fumbled around for 30 seconds trying to find the option that actually let him dial someone.

This generation doesn’t make phone calls, because everyone is in constant, lightweight contact in so many other ways: texting, chatting, and social-network messaging. And we don’t just have more options than we used to. We have better ones: These new forms of communication have exposed the fact that the voice call is badly designed. It deserves to die.

Consider: If I suddenly decide I want to dial you up, I have no way of knowing whether you’re busy, and you have no idea why I’m calling. We have to open Schrödinger’s box every time, having a conversation to figure out whether it’s OK to have a conversation. Plus, voice calls are emotionally high-bandwidth, which is why it’s so weirdly exhausting to be interrupted by one. (We apparently find voicemail even more excruciating: Studies show that more than a fifth of all voice messages are never listened to.)

The telephone, in other words, doesn’t provide any information about status, so we are constantly interrupting one another. The other tools at our disposal are more polite. Instant messaging lets us detect whether our friends are busy without our bugging them, and texting lets us ping one another asynchronously. (Plus, we can spend more time thinking about what we want to say.) For all the hue and cry about becoming an “always on” society, we’re actually moving away from the demand that everyone be available immediately.

[more here]

Personally, if I REALLY need to talk, I send a quick SMS asking if the other person can chat (if it really cannot be done on SMS or email or face-to-face on Skype). Nine times out of 10 (if you had the common decency to extend such a courtesy) the other person WON’T be able to speak at that exact moment. Believe it or not, the world does not revolve around you. If it’s a question you need answered, why don’t you just SMS or email the question. Oh, YOU prefer talking? When it suits YOU? Oh, I see..

You’ll be amazed how many times your call is answered out of duress. If you were polite enough to give them the chance, you will find them SMSing back things like “Call in 10 minutes, just in a meeting” or, “Can’t chat now does 14h30 suit you?” If it’s the latter then it’s you who is wasting time, because you could probably get the answer before 14h30 if you just pumped out an SMS or email.

I would like to stress at this point (Sherrington) that this is not about needing a PA or extra assistance, it’s about everyday manners and, if you look at the heading, a reality that you may well need to get a grip of. Just like the FM radio signal will be shut down in the UK by 2015 (and therefore here in SA in the foreseeable future), so too will the old telephone exchange system. No more phone numbers. Seriously, are you only going to wait until then before you consider others before yourself?

Some of the more misinformed out there argue that if one is unable to take a call, one should turn the phone off. The problem with this argument is what if I CAN’T, or would PREFER (if you don’t mind) communicating in text? Why doesn’t my preference count? Why is it all about YOU again?

Just because someone can’t make or take a phone call doesn’t mean communication has to stop and, more importantly, why the hell should it be so insulting to you. Why are we we all so goddamn insecure? Get a grip, man – Jesus!

Or, more to the point, people have been so lazy and scared to take on new technology (little things, liking texting to ask for a friend’s phone number, rather than phoning), comforted by the fact that they can always blast off a phone call.

Judging by recent reports, your days are numbered my friends..

And don’t even get me started on private numbers. Perhaps you heard the rant on 2oceansvibe Radio about ADT calling from blocked numbers for another day.

Sometimes without you even knowing

You know the story…. ADT clients justifiably not answering private numbers while in meetings, not knowing that it was ADT calling (because the alarm went off and their kids were in trouble at home). Should ADT legally be allowed to call from a blocked number? Would you not like to know it’s ADT calling and your kids are in trouble? Is a private number the right thing for a security company to be calling you with, when it might have to do with your loved ones being in danger?

Surely an SMS would avoid this life-threatening habit?

For past articles on this topic click here, here and here.

[big love, shezza]