Cell phones are a godsend to modern society, there is no question about that. They have made it simpler for parents to keep in contact with their children; they have freed proprietors and bosses from the office and they give optimism to anyone who is stranded. It has been said that having a cell phone is the single biggest step to raising self-employed income in the Third World.
But it is not all great news, is it? Being constantly accessible to everybody can be a real nuisance. This is one of the drawbacks of cell phones. However, you may like to be available to some individuals, do you not, just not to everybody. So what can you do about it? There are a few methods to reduce your availability to everyone but the ones you want.
The first way to reduce your availability to every Tom, Dick or Harry is to assign ringtones. Who do you want to be allowed to contact you? Let us presume: family 24 hours; friends 16 hours; office 8 hours everybody else 8 hours. That is four different ringtones and once you have learned them, you have effectively freed up a lot of your availability.
One point here, do not put your cell phone number on your business card, but when you leave the office each night have the office phone redirected to your cell phone. That way, your office phone's ringtone will permit you to recognize work-related calls.
The second method to reduce availability is to implement profiles. Most cell phones allow you to put different profiles on timers. This means that you could run in silent mode for a third of the day, in loud mode for a third of the day and standard mode for a third of the day.
Different phones have profiles with different features, so you might be able to go even further than this. Read your cell phone instruction booklet to find out more. You might be able to turn voice mail on for some ringtones, say, office phone, in certain profiles, say, silent mode, but always ring loud for others, perhaps, for family.
Another one of the drawbacks of cell phones is annoyance caused by lack of cell phone etiquette. Some people are downright rude in the manner they conduct themselves on their cell phones. In Britain a cell phone is known as a mobile, which is useful advice: if you are in company and your phone rings, get up and become mobile to somewhere where you will not bother those around you. Lack of cell phone etiquette annoys people everyday on public transport, in restaurants and in cinemas.
There are two other things that owners of cell phones should bear in mind: firstly, a ringing phone is merely a signal that someone is requesting to speak to you, you do not have to behave like a trained animal and drop everything that you are doing to answer it (ringtones can help here too); and secondly, cell phones can be turned off or put in silent mode with the vibrator activated, if you want.
But it is not all great news, is it? Being constantly accessible to everybody can be a real nuisance. This is one of the drawbacks of cell phones. However, you may like to be available to some individuals, do you not, just not to everybody. So what can you do about it? There are a few methods to reduce your availability to everyone but the ones you want.
The first way to reduce your availability to every Tom, Dick or Harry is to assign ringtones. Who do you want to be allowed to contact you? Let us presume: family 24 hours; friends 16 hours; office 8 hours everybody else 8 hours. That is four different ringtones and once you have learned them, you have effectively freed up a lot of your availability.
One point here, do not put your cell phone number on your business card, but when you leave the office each night have the office phone redirected to your cell phone. That way, your office phone's ringtone will permit you to recognize work-related calls.
The second method to reduce availability is to implement profiles. Most cell phones allow you to put different profiles on timers. This means that you could run in silent mode for a third of the day, in loud mode for a third of the day and standard mode for a third of the day.
Different phones have profiles with different features, so you might be able to go even further than this. Read your cell phone instruction booklet to find out more. You might be able to turn voice mail on for some ringtones, say, office phone, in certain profiles, say, silent mode, but always ring loud for others, perhaps, for family.
Another one of the drawbacks of cell phones is annoyance caused by lack of cell phone etiquette. Some people are downright rude in the manner they conduct themselves on their cell phones. In Britain a cell phone is known as a mobile, which is useful advice: if you are in company and your phone rings, get up and become mobile to somewhere where you will not bother those around you. Lack of cell phone etiquette annoys people everyday on public transport, in restaurants and in cinemas.
There are two other things that owners of cell phones should bear in mind: firstly, a ringing phone is merely a signal that someone is requesting to speak to you, you do not have to behave like a trained animal and drop everything that you are doing to answer it (ringtones can help here too); and secondly, cell phones can be turned off or put in silent mode with the vibrator activated, if you want.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of topics, but is now concerned with looking for free ringtones for mobile phones. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Family Plans For Cell Phones.