It’s rare that my mobile gets used heavily for actually speaking to people on calls. Lengthy calls tend to be via VOIP on the laptop with the rest of my mobile time being spent on emails, social and surfing, just like everyone else.
Because of this, it’s rare that I’ll answer a call from a number that I don’t recognise. Like most people these days, time is so precious with the various daily commitments that it’s just not worth taking the risk of picking up and derailing the time that you planned to be focused on something else. If it’s supposed to be urgent, an email and an arranged time for a call works just fine. And if it’s truly urgent? Then they’ll keep on ringing.
It’s also part of the reason that I try to keep my notifications to a minimum on my mobile. Mind you, the fact that I continually find myself slipping backwards on this and have to reset is a whole other blog post in itself….
So I’m totally onboard with this tweet:
In 2019, are phone calls really just real-time meeting requests with no subject, no agenda, an unspecified duration, and sometimes even a mystery attendee?
— Aaron W ?? ☁️ ? (@as_w) February 1, 2019
Our concept of time and planning has shifted massively with the advent of modern consumer tech. The more contactable we become, the harder we have to fight to stay on our feet as we wade upstream in the river of information that’s speeding up as it flows through more of our daily activities.
It used to be that letting others control your daily calendar was not only normal but also ‘good’ business. Now sometimes it feels like that it’s simply the quickest way to live the life you didn’t choose to lead, badly.