I have been known to turn my cell phone off to get some peace and quiet. I have asked my family (nicely) to only use it in case of emergency. My grandmother respects this, and I always answer her calls.

My mother calls it and chats and chats. Her conversations are more like a monologue of her complaining, and one can't even get a word in to say "I need to go now." The last time it happened, I was concerned and answered. I was on the side of the trail getting eaten alive with mosquitoes for better than 10 minutes before she drew a breath and I could say that I really couldn't talk. 5 minutes later she finally stopped complaining about her life.

So yeah - sometimes I turn it off. Guess there have been too many cries of wolf. And sadly there's no ring tone that will tell me whether my mom is calling with an emergency, or because she wants to complain.

CA