Don’t call me, I won’t call you. Seriously… I won’t- so don''t bother. It''s not personal and I am not trying to be obtuse or difficult, but calling is just something that I don’t do anymore unless I really have to. If you want me, you can ping me online.
Tweet me and I will tweet you back, like me, ping me, post it, chat and I will be there- happy to respond. Just don''t make me stop to chat.
There is something intrusive to me now about the sound of a phone ringing. It cuts off my flow, it makes me stop what I am doing and it distracts me. I don’t even really like texting that much. Phones are the way strangers find me, my friends know that they can call me on Skype or chat with me on facebook.
In July my iphone was stolen. That was a few months ago already and besides some hiccups around meeting up with people, I feel like it is good riddance to bad rubbish. I did replace it with an aging flip phone for emergencies but I barely charge it. What I realized, is that what I love about the iphone was not the phone itself- it is the ability to be online.
There is a niggling voice that tells me this is not a functional way to run a business, I should be available any time anywhere. But then I remember that just a few years ago phones were attached to walls, in offices, at desks and most people didn’t have your home number or wouldn’t dare to call unless it was an emergency. Also, most people from home wouldn’t call and bother you at work. So there was a line, a boundary between home and office, work and free time.
I guess, by not using a cellphone I am trying to recreate that boundary. Since there is no other way to reach me, people are forced to ping or email me. This let''s me get back to them when I have time, keeps a record of the conversation and is usually a shorter amount of time. While some people feel that our ever expanding levels of interconnectedness are destroying private lives, I realized that all I needed to do to get mine back was ditch my phone.
Find me on twitter @sarahnadav Sarah Nadav is CEO of BUKIT, a brand new start up which is disrupting debt.