Communication Got You Down?
Jul. 15th, 2008 07:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athersgeoTen years ago, almost to the day, I had just completed my first year as a university student. I had battled all year with the cost of phoning home and had decided - albeit just - that while StudentLine and BT phone boxes were extortionate, a mobile phone would be even worse.
Ten years later and me and my mobile are joined at the hip. I never go anywhere without it; I religiously check to make sure it has enough battery charge to get me through the day and it's always switched on (unless, of course, I'm somewhere where I'm asked to switch it off - I may be obsessive about carrying it, but I do try to have common courtesy too), which means I'm never out of touch.
And it occurs to me that I don't actually know *why*.
To go back to ten years ago, it was important(ish) for my parents to have a means of getting in touch with me while I was living away from home. That was provided by StudentLine, who had phones installed in all the university-owned accommodation. The fact that it was expensive to use did tend to curb any tendency I might have had to yack to no purpose, but it was there, it was convenient and if I did need to make an urgent phone call, I didn't have to go and freeze my extremities off using one of the on-site phone boxes (which were just as expensive but significantly more drafty).
Everything was gravy, as it were. I worked over the summer at the local cricket ground, went back to university for my second year and apart from occasionally being asked to mind other people's mobile phones (the perks of being the cricket team's scorer...), I didn't give the concept of mobile phones a thought. Then, at the end of the year I returned to Bristol and things started to change.
My job at the cricket ground started to become a lot more involved. In an average week, I was working upwards of 60 hours and on at least three occasions, I ended up staying at work long after I'd thought I'd be finished - on one of those occasions, I was so late (scheduled to finish at 7pm; actually got home at nearly 1am) that my parents started to wonder where on earth I was, and given I could be anywhere on a large site, ringing the office to find me was obviously not a plan.
So the idea of getting a mobile popped up again. Since my first year in university, the Pay&Go "Phone In A Box" concept had been invented, which made the idea a lot easier to imagine. No monthly contract with those pesky credit checks that would surely fail a student; no monthly bills. Just a phone and the requirement to "top up" with £15 every three months. Perfect. I could carry it around with me while I was working, so that the parents could get hold of me, if necessary. It would also mean that my boss could locate me if necessary, too, without having to dispatch someone to find me. Win.
I went out and bought one on my next day off.
It soon became doubly useful as it meant I had a reliable number I could give people where I could guarantee I'd get the message - it was at this point that we realised just how bad my grandfather's memory had become; people would ring up and leave messages with someone who sounded perfectly lucid over the phone, but who, two minutes later, would have forgotten that the phone had even rung. And then it became triply useful when my father ended up in intensive care - not so much for me, but for my mother.
Since then, it's been useful in sundry other situations - when travelling in the US and Europe and, heck, within the UK too - and it still remains the only reliable way of getting in touch with me (assuming you don't have my email address), but there basically isn't anyone who simply HAS to be able to get hold of me these days. I don't play hockey, my boss doesn't need to look hard to find me and since I'm more or less chained to my desk, if there is a family emergency, I can always be reached by my work phone number.
So why do I still carry my mobile always switched on "just in case"? Do I really think I'm that important that I have to be in touch at all hours of the day?
Or do I just suffer from a bad case of inertia?
Ten years later and me and my mobile are joined at the hip. I never go anywhere without it; I religiously check to make sure it has enough battery charge to get me through the day and it's always switched on (unless, of course, I'm somewhere where I'm asked to switch it off - I may be obsessive about carrying it, but I do try to have common courtesy too), which means I'm never out of touch.
And it occurs to me that I don't actually know *why*.
To go back to ten years ago, it was important(ish) for my parents to have a means of getting in touch with me while I was living away from home. That was provided by StudentLine, who had phones installed in all the university-owned accommodation. The fact that it was expensive to use did tend to curb any tendency I might have had to yack to no purpose, but it was there, it was convenient and if I did need to make an urgent phone call, I didn't have to go and freeze my extremities off using one of the on-site phone boxes (which were just as expensive but significantly more drafty).
Everything was gravy, as it were. I worked over the summer at the local cricket ground, went back to university for my second year and apart from occasionally being asked to mind other people's mobile phones (the perks of being the cricket team's scorer...), I didn't give the concept of mobile phones a thought. Then, at the end of the year I returned to Bristol and things started to change.
My job at the cricket ground started to become a lot more involved. In an average week, I was working upwards of 60 hours and on at least three occasions, I ended up staying at work long after I'd thought I'd be finished - on one of those occasions, I was so late (scheduled to finish at 7pm; actually got home at nearly 1am) that my parents started to wonder where on earth I was, and given I could be anywhere on a large site, ringing the office to find me was obviously not a plan.
So the idea of getting a mobile popped up again. Since my first year in university, the Pay&Go "Phone In A Box" concept had been invented, which made the idea a lot easier to imagine. No monthly contract with those pesky credit checks that would surely fail a student; no monthly bills. Just a phone and the requirement to "top up" with £15 every three months. Perfect. I could carry it around with me while I was working, so that the parents could get hold of me, if necessary. It would also mean that my boss could locate me if necessary, too, without having to dispatch someone to find me. Win.
I went out and bought one on my next day off.
It soon became doubly useful as it meant I had a reliable number I could give people where I could guarantee I'd get the message - it was at this point that we realised just how bad my grandfather's memory had become; people would ring up and leave messages with someone who sounded perfectly lucid over the phone, but who, two minutes later, would have forgotten that the phone had even rung. And then it became triply useful when my father ended up in intensive care - not so much for me, but for my mother.
Since then, it's been useful in sundry other situations - when travelling in the US and Europe and, heck, within the UK too - and it still remains the only reliable way of getting in touch with me (assuming you don't have my email address), but there basically isn't anyone who simply HAS to be able to get hold of me these days. I don't play hockey, my boss doesn't need to look hard to find me and since I'm more or less chained to my desk, if there is a family emergency, I can always be reached by my work phone number.
So why do I still carry my mobile always switched on "just in case"? Do I really think I'm that important that I have to be in touch at all hours of the day?
Or do I just suffer from a bad case of inertia?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-15 07:38 pm (UTC)And I do think, quite frequenty, why the f*** is this thing on, I am NOT important enough to warrant it being taken everywhere and being kept on 24/7... but still I do.
I can't imagine life without it now, I rely on it for a number of things. But at the same time, I wish I wasn't so dependent and that I could not panic if I've left it at home for a few hours.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-16 09:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-16 11:07 am (UTC)Plus it doubles as a radio and an MP3 player, so useful on public transport.... and, of course, a calendar, calculator, converter, timer, stopwatch - oh, and video recorder and camera, of course!
I have hardly ever actually spoken on it, and don't often recognise the ring-tone....
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-18 10:53 am (UTC)These days I find it useful to keep in touch with people when arranging to meet up, and it does mean travel arrangements can be more flexible. However, I don't always carry it, and don't usually reply to texts instantly...