Every once in awhile I rebel against technology. That doesn’t mean that I boycott it totally, because HOW WOULD I LIVE if I did, so instead I direct all my techy frustration toward one particular thing. I’ll decide for awhile that I’m not interested in checking email, or I’m not going to carry my cell phone, or I’m not going to surf the internet. Or, in the case of the last couple of weeks, that I’m not going to check my voicemail.
Voicemail is really, really on my nerves.
Because I feel pulled in about 65 different directions right now, voicemail is something that I feel like I can control. I can look at the blinking red light on our phone at home – AND IGNORE IT. I can pull out my cell phone, see the words “New voice mail” – AND IGNORE IT. I’m not saying that it’s a practical solution. I’m not even saying that it makes sense. But it makes me feel better.
Now please don’t misunderstand – I don’t know many people who love techy things more than I do. I can spend hours tweaking my blog template, answering emails, writing blog posts, talking on my cell phone, clicking through the TiVo. I like things that beep. I love pushing buttons (literally – not so much figuratively). But every once in awhile I start to feel so “connected” that I have to pull the plug on something. And for the last couple of weeks, that something has been voicemail. (I am returning people’s calls, though, because thanks to caller ID, I know who called even when I don’t listen to messages. Lesson: there’s no escaping the phone.)
D. and I had a little, um, discussion (read: argument) this morning because he feels like it’s irresponsible of me to not listen to messages. He says that there could be a message that someone died and we wouldn’t know – and while I think that’s probably a little extreme, I see his point.. And maybe it IS irresponsible of me. However, I think we can pretty conclusively deduce that, whether it’s a result of irresponsibility or, you know, STRESS, I’m feeling a little overloaded right now. OTHERWISE I WOULDN’T BE IGNORING THE VOICEMAIL.
All that to say: I’m going to unplug for a few days. From everything. Except for my family.
And in the irony department, this morning I pulled my cell phone out of my purse – and I had six (!) missed calls and three new messages. One message was from Bubba, with whom I’ve been engaged in a record-setting round of phone tag, and two messages were from Emma Kate, who was concerned that 1) I hadn’t answered her email from earlier in the afternoon and 2) she hadn’t talked to me all day and was wondering if everything was okay. I couldn’t help but laugh.
So yes, I’m okay. And yes, I’m unplugging. I’m sure I’ll make some phone calls; I’m sure I’ll do some writing; but I’m taking the fact that my husband and I had AN ARGUMENT ABOUT VOICEMAIL to mean that things may be a little too tech-heavy in our house right now. I’m thinking that maybe voicemail won’t stress me out so much if I take care of some of the things in my house that do not beep and ring. Like furniture that needs to be dusted and magazines that need to be read and food that needs to be cooked. You know, Ye Olden Hobbies.
And in the meantime, if you’re looking for something to do around here, the archives over there in the sidebar are chock-full-o-posts. I’ll even recommend a few:
The One That Reflects My Current State Of Mind
The One That I Need To Read Right Now
The One That Reminds Me That Blog-Wise, I’m Fit As A Fiddle
The One That Reminds Me What Really Matters
…and, finally, the one that has changed how I feel about the word “Vlasic” forever…
The One With The Misunderstanding
See y’all in a few.
it happens. i don’t have voicemail on my house phone, but like you thanks to caller id, i know who called. my machine is always full before i listen. then people call my cell and say “i think your machine is broken”. no, i’m just hiding
I understand completely. It must be the hot weather or something cause everyone seems to be writing about blogging too much, or reading blogs too much, or just interneting too much.
So take a rest, enjoy your family, do your cleaning stuff and all, and we’ll tune in later.
We’ve got an accidental boycott of tv & internet at our house. (I’m at work commenting…sshhh) Maybe it’ll bring me back to life before blogging, and I can rediscover those old hobbies. Lord knows I need to!
Now that I know you’re not going to be around much, I won’t be too afraid of what I’ll be missing until our repair guy arrives!
Funny that you should write about this…just this morning I had a voice message (at my office) about a death. No joke.
my dh said to me yesterday….btw, I turned the answering machine back on after finding it off…..I thougt,”don’t think I noticed honey, and didn’t miss it”. I understand. Enjoy, savor, relish, and indulge in your non-techy things that don’t beep, ring or flash. Quietness is good for the soul, even non-stimulation for a short time….just don’t keel over, because we won’t know since you won’t be posting!!! 8-)
Enjoy your break. I’ve unplugged from commenting lately…just lurking. Didn’t want you to think I had lost the lovin’ feeling for your writing…we’ll be here when you get back!
Rest, relax, enjoy your boys. The blog-world (and the rest of the world, for that matter) will be here when you’re ready to plug back in.
I’ve been known to ignore the phone and voicemail on a semi-regular basis. This horrifies my mother… but it hasn’t stopped me. Sometimes you just have to say “no.”
I’m HORRIBLE about listening to my voice mail messages. In fact, more often than not I just see who called and then call them back, without listening to the message. It makes for awkward explainations when they say, “Did you listen to my message?”
I’m unplugging this weekend as well. Oronzo, Snuggle Bug, and I are going to drive 5 hours to go camping with friends. I’m leaving my laptop at home and probably turning my cell phone off, since the coverage will stink anyway. I can’t wait to get back to nature! I’m sure I’ll have pictures to post next week. :)
I usually wait a few days to listen to my voice mail. This morning I started listening to them and a new message came on from my carrier and it was sooooo long and confusing telling me to push this number and the pound sign and jump up and down (well not the last part) and I wound up just shutting off my phone. Maybe tomorrow I’ll try again. Enjoy your break! And Be Blessed.
Good for you. You’ll be glad you did. Though I predict that staying away from blogging will be a little harder than you think….
I SO know what you mean. I have been going through something very similar right now, only it is extending to my personal life as well…In the words of that one actress from long ago, “I just vant to be aloon.”
I keep telling myself I’m going to go on a computer haitus. I say, “I’m not turning on my computer today,” at least, you know and then what do I do when I come home? Exactly.
I screen all my calls and haven’t called anyone back in a week. I really need to disconnect. I want nothing more than to get into my car and drive away somewhere and stay like at least two nights by myself away from everyone I know and anyone who might know me. I think, perhaps if I didn’t work in customer service and see the same people all day long six days a week, I might feel a little different. I dunno. I feel ya though.
I believe cell phones should really be for outgoing calls only! You are lucky though. Try getting out of the shower in the morning to find you’ve had six missed calls while you just took 10 minutes to rinse yourself off! Hope you have a weekend full of rest and peace! Love ya! Talk to you….or better yet phone tag you…later!
Quick on the comment edit….by the way!
If you should decide, in a moment of weakness, that you miss email, you know where to find me:)
Yeah, BooMama. I could get a lot more done if you didn’t blog so much. ;-)
Enjoy your break!
I totally understand! I’ve been feeling that I need to back away ever so slightly from the computer time. I just now wrote a new post, and it had been three days…(but ofcourse during these three days I was reading and replying to posts all over the place!)
Anyway…we’ll miss you but I think most of understand the need for breaks andor spending more time with family.
Congratulations on making the break! I hope it goes well for you. I have to agree with DH though. If you don’t plan to listen to Voice Mail, turn it off or make your callers aware on your outgoing greeting. Otherwise they have every reason to believe that they are actually communicating with you.
I’m not sure why I’m bothering to write this message. You probably won’t read it! lol.
Sounds like one of my “balance” posts! Have fun.
Enjoy your weekend. I’m sure you’ll have plenty to write about when you turn the computer back on! And I’m sure you’ll still have plenty of readers…
enjoy the break :)
Hey- Thanks for listiing me in your thirteen! Very sweet.
I was thinking that, for bloggers, the comments box has become our new blinking red light!
Go ahead and veg., girl.
You have been tagged for when you come back to join us. (if you have already done this, let me know)
Sat, Bless your bloggin heart post)
I have a solution. If your voice mail gets full of old messages new ones cannot be left. No new voicemail! Really, this works for me. :)
Seriously, does you husband not know how to check the voicemail? Then you would know if someone dies. I don’t usually check mine either. However, my dh is pretty obsessive about it. Every time we come home, he goes straight to the phone, turns it on, and checks for the telltale beep-beep-beep sound. (our red light doesn’t always come on) Every time! Really. We are NOT that important.
I too HATE checking my voicemail…maybe that isn’t the case. I HATE returning phone calls. Anyway, when I get back from a trip I will have twenty-something voicemails. I dutifully get a large sheet of paper and start numbering and writing notes for myself. It is so funny, but things have often resolved themselves before I even get the message. That is a good feeling. Being raised Southern, I know I HAVE to return the calls from the messages, so I do, but often not right away.
At one time there was a service that would send your voicemail as text to your email account. I don’t know how it could work, but I would love that.
I finally get a chance to come over and catch up a bit with you and your GONE FISHING sign is up. Oh well, I’ll check back later. I do so love the BooGirl.
Hope you have a healing break. We all need them occassionally.
I’m wondering if we might not have some built-in limitation to how much techno-stuph we can juggle at any given moment in our lives. If I add TiVo to my list of techno-regularity, something else will definitely have to give.
The problem with voicemail is that it is way time-consuming. The amount of time it takes me to relay a smidgen of info via email will take 34.6 minutes on the phone because of all the chit-chat and pleasantries. I usually end up checking voicemail at a time of day when I can not possibly call the person back – like midnight- delete the message, and forget to call them back the next day.
So bring on the TiVo!
Hi there. I stumbled upon your blog. I like it :) Will visit again soon. This is a fun spot!
I know what you mean about the phone and voicemail. Sometimes I just revel in the freedom to not even answer the phone. There’s no law that says just because it rings I must answer it – not that this is my usual practice. Sometimes I return calls without listening to messages first too, but as I wait for someone to pick up, I’m suddenly overwhelmed with the fear that they left me a message about something terrible happening and my chipper “Hi!” will be competely inappropriate. Of course, that’s never happened though.