Mobile phones - grrrr!

[grynge]

I've pissed off a few friends and family members by refusing to talk to them if they're driving. They say it's not distracting their attention from the road, so I ask them to call me back when I've got their full attention. It never goes down well but I don't have to worry they'll cause an accident while their talking to me...

I had a client round last week and my mobile rang while we were talking and unfortunately my wife was out so I couldn't ask her to take the call for me. I had to say 'I'm not going to answer that' and then I was sat there wondering how it looked that I just ignored the call.

If I was the client I would have been impressed you didn't take your attention off me, but a little dissapointed you hadn't turned it off in the first place.

[crabfoot]

There is a human ability, which allows someone practised in a procedure to engage in rational conversation whist performing that activity. Musicians, whilst playing, can hold a conversation and not drop a note. Good copy typists can plough on and keep copying while simultaneously having a chat with a colleague. These activities have no life-threatening implications - the point is that it is possible to maintain an important activity when having a conversation.

OTOH there are some people who, despite apparent competency, cannot seem to achieve the ideal of never "dropping a bolloks". Manny Charlton of Nazareth was a brilliant guitarist, but he always seemed to play one sour note in every performance that spoiled the evening. Dave Evans titled his instrumental "Stagefright" because he debuted it on the BBC at "14 bum notes per second". Just to prove that he got the hang of it eventually - lookee here at this performance on the Old Grey Whistle Test. He made the guitar himself, as well as the tune.

The point is that we all have an innate ability to multi-task, and we all have an innate ability to over-estimate our capacity for using that ability. Time was that I could play "Stagefright" - if you want me to do it now, I'd need to practise it every day for 3 months before I could do it in public without mistakes.

When I was driving over 50k miles a year, I would drop into the inside lane of a motorway at 60 mph and make telephone calls quite safely, on a hands free kit. Nowadays I stop to make calls - I lack practise, and it is the safe way to do it. For some people making calls and driving is a safe activity, but too many people THINK they can do it safely, and they can't -that is the big danger.

Whatever, I think grynge is a fool to himself for thumping an already distracted driver. For the love of Mike the driver's no rocket scientist, he's driving a cab - read the signs n use yr loaf. I'd wait until the vehicle isn't moving.
No tip = bad dog no biscuit.

[grynge]

There is a human ability, which allows someone practised in a procedure to engage in rational conversation whist performing that activity. Musicians, whilst playing, can hold a conversation and not drop a note. Good copy typists can plough on and keep copying while simultaneously having a chat with a colleague. These activities have no life-threatening implications - the point is that it is possible to maintain an important activity when having a conversation.

OTOH there are some people who, despite apparent competency, cannot seem to achieve the ideal of never "dropping a bolloks". Manny Charlton of Nazareth was a brilliant guitarist, but he always seemed to play one sour note in every performance that spoiled the evening. Dave Evans titled his instrumental "Stagefright" because he debuted it on the BBC at "14 bum notes per second". Just to prove that he got the hang of it eventually - lookee here at this performance on the Old Grey Whistle Test. He made the guitar himself, as well as the tune.

The point is that we all have an innate ability to multi-task, and we all have an innate ability to over-estimate our capacity for using that ability. Time was that I could play "Stagefright" - if you want me to do it now, I'd need to practise it every day for 3 months before I could do it in public without mistakes.

When I was driving over 50k miles a year, I would drop into the inside lane of a motorway at 60 mph and make telephone calls quite safely, on a hands free kit. Nowadays I stop to make calls - I lack practise, and it is the safe way to do it. For some people making calls and driving is a safe activity, but too many people THINK they can do it safely, and they can't -that is the big danger.

I think you are correct about some people being able to multitask, but I bet there isn't a person alive than can hold 2 completely seperate conversations simultaneous. From the amount of apologies I receive from Emailers/IM'ers/SMSers saying that message wasn't intended for me I beleive it is even difficult to perform that task via an instant message system as well, though again some people do manage to do it better than others.

Whatever, I think grynge is a fool to himself for thumping an already distracted driver. For the love of Mike the driver's no rocket scientist, he's driving a cab - read the signs n use yr loaf. I'd wait until the vehicle isn't moving.
No tip = bad dog no biscuit.

You're absolutely right, but I don't thump em I do it just hard enough that they know I am pissed but not hard enough to really cause a problem. It's a bit like what I do to my children when they do something stupid.

[bwelford]

My Android smartphone gives me the option of sending an automatic text message when a call comes in. You have the choice of a variety of messages, e.g. I'm busy and will call you back, so you can be courteous and efficient if you so wish.