Back when I was a kid in the early 1980s people who could be contacted 24 hours a day were called doctors. Even they did not carry cellular phones because there was no such thing as a cellular phone (or if there were such a thing they weighed about 5 pounds and nobody had one!)
Instead, they carried pagers, and when they were paged it seemed like something very important was calling them away from whatever it was that they were doing--a medical emergency, perhaps. People today hardly use this life or death criteria to merit 24/7 access to them via cell phone, email or text message. It would seem that our needs and perhaps our priorities have changed quite drastically. Today, if someone can't call or text you for an hour they get frustrated and annoyed. I find this with many of my friends because I only use my cell phone when I'm traveling, just in case I need it for an emergency, which is what I feel it is supposed to be used for--a real emergency.
I heard a really poignant commentary on NPR this morning on this very topic. It came from a college professor who refused to carry a cell phone. She made the point that people who feel that they are "in demand" 24/7 create a false sense of self-importance. Within the context of a culture where cell phone use has become so ubiquitous that we hardly notice if someone interrupts a dinner conversation with a call, I would assert that someone being "on call" or "in demand" 24 hours a day now holds very little meaning. The NPR commentator agrees with this assertion. She said that she has stopped making herself available because she wants people to understand that her time is precious--to get in touch with her is a priveldge. I really like this notion and I think the next time a friend complains because they can't get a hold of me on my cell I will be sure to bring it up to them. If nothing else, they can always drop me an email--I check that daily!
Instead, they carried pagers, and when they were paged it seemed like something very important was calling them away from whatever it was that they were doing--a medical emergency, perhaps. People today hardly use this life or death criteria to merit 24/7 access to them via cell phone, email or text message. It would seem that our needs and perhaps our priorities have changed quite drastically. Today, if someone can't call or text you for an hour they get frustrated and annoyed. I find this with many of my friends because I only use my cell phone when I'm traveling, just in case I need it for an emergency, which is what I feel it is supposed to be used for--a real emergency.
I heard a really poignant commentary on NPR this morning on this very topic. It came from a college professor who refused to carry a cell phone. She made the point that people who feel that they are "in demand" 24/7 create a false sense of self-importance. Within the context of a culture where cell phone use has become so ubiquitous that we hardly notice if someone interrupts a dinner conversation with a call, I would assert that someone being "on call" or "in demand" 24 hours a day now holds very little meaning. The NPR commentator agrees with this assertion. She said that she has stopped making herself available because she wants people to understand that her time is precious--to get in touch with her is a priveldge. I really like this notion and I think the next time a friend complains because they can't get a hold of me on my cell I will be sure to bring it up to them. If nothing else, they can always drop me an email--I check that daily!
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