Being married to a cellphone or I'm just a luddite

[Crankin]

OK, this is getting off topic. Pll, I know about that Facebook feature. It's actually not her original posts that bother me so much, but her reaction to my posts. When she comments on my rides, I'd like to say "why do you care, you told me you can't do what I do." This is a person who recently had knee surgery and went throughout her rehab all summer. She plays tennis and skis. Right before she had the surgery, she got some bug in her ear that she was going to walk her dog (all she ever does) while riding a bike. Instead of asking us for help, when another friend mentioned how helpful my DH had been to her when she bought a road bike, this person got angry and proceeded to get help from a neighbor who "just bought a bike off of Craig's list." Well, she did buy a Trek FX, which I told her was a good choice, but then I was shot down again when I told her I would be glad to help her learn the rules of the road, teach her to shift, etc. She again said, she would never do what I do, and she would only ride on the 2 streets in her neighborhood, after I said I would take her to the bike trail. So after her mean response to all my offers of help, I told her it was dangerous for her to walk her dog with a leash attached to her bike, especially, by her own admission, she had no bike skills, and had never ridden a bike with hand brakes or gears.
The bike is sitting in her garage.
She's a person that is constantly on her phone, texting, and posting stuff on FB, because she has nothing else to do.

[Irulan]

RE phone. We have a simple rule. No phones at the table, at home or when out.

[pll]

Crankin: your texting friend sounds like a nuisance. I think FB allows you to prevent certain people from commenting or even seeing your posts. It takes some work, but nobody should come into your virtual home and annoy you.

[Irulan]

Crankin: your texting friend sounds like a nuisance. I think FB allows you to prevent certain people from commenting or even seeing your posts. It takes some work, but nobody should come into your virtual home and annoy you.

There are some very good sites out there devoted to FB privacy and how to best use what they give you.
Facecrooks is one I refer to diligently.

[indysteel]

What I don't get--and this is only partly related to cell phones--is how many personal phone calls some people make and receive during the workday. When did it become the norm for everybody and their brother to chat throughout the day? Several people I work with spend half the day on the phone with their spouse, friends, children, etc. I very rarely make or receive personal calls during the day. It just seems like a lot of things can and should be discussed at home after work. To me, it's just another example of how self involved people have become.

[OakLeaf]

@Crankin, I don't think there's anything weird about her liking your posts even though she doesn't enjoy the activities herself. I "like" all kinds of things my FB friends post that are outside my personal experience. Photos of their paintings, links to reviews of their productions, descriptions of their quilting get-togethers, even though I neither paint nor act nor sew, e.g. I "like" that they're having fun, creating something, living the life they want.

[Becky]

There have always been self-involved, impulsive, rude people. Cell phones (and technology in general) are just another way to accomplish that behavior. Blame the person, not the item...

[Lizzz]

Agreed, it's not the technology that makes life difficult, it's ourselves. Anyway, the cellphone has become an essential part of people's lives (personally and professionally) Of course, it also lends itself to be misused or overused by some people, but that's the case with every technological good - and of course the World Wide Web as well. But the statistics on internet usage in this overview show that taken together - the people can profit from it - if they use it with reason.

[SadieKate]

@Crankin, I don't think there's anything weird about her liking your posts even though she doesn't enjoy the activities herself. I "like" all kinds of things my FB friends post that are outside my personal experience. Photos of their paintings, links to reviews of their productions, descriptions of their quilting get-togethers, even though I neither paint nor act nor sew, e.g. I "like" that they're having fun, creating something, living the life they want.

Like.

[emily_in_nc]

What I don't get--and this is only partly related to cell phones--is how many personal phone calls some people make and receive during the workday. When did it become the norm for everybody and their brother to chat throughout the day? Several people I work with spend half the day on the phone with their spouse, friends, children, etc. I very rarely make or receive personal calls during the day. It just seems like a lot of things can and should be discussed at home after work. To me, it's just another example of how self involved people have become.

Funny, in my office personal (and business, for that matter) calls went significantly out of fashion as email gradually took over. Internally we also used Yahoo IM a lot, to chat about work (and occasionally non-work stuff). Even my manager IM'd me often and hardly ever called. My co-workers and I had some serious laugh-fests when using the various funny animated emoticons and chatting back and forth. But you hardly every heard anyone's phone ringing or overheard personal phone calls in the last few years!

Of course, digital communications may be more prevalent in tech workplaces -- I was a software engineer (now retired).

[Irulan]

There are tons of ways to block people of facebook without unfriending them. There are great resources on the web on "how to". I get that maybe you don't want to unfriend them, but why listen to their crap? One of the big points of Facebook that people tend to ignore is that you have very good control over who sees what. You just have to take a little bit of time to figure it ou.

[Crankin]

I went and searched how to block someone from making comments on your posts. There is (was) a way, that seemed quite simple and straight forward, under privacy settings, but when I went to my settings, the interface did not look at all like what was described. I called DH over and he couldn't find what we needed, either.
I suspect that the instructions were written before the "new" look of Facebook.
Oh well, I will have to get better at ignoring.

[emily_in_nc]

OK, this is getting off topic. Pll, I know about that Facebook feature. It's actually not her original posts that bother me so much, but her reaction to my posts.

I recently read an article online about how you could set Facebook to not allow certain friends to comment on your posts. The Comment section just won't appear on their feed. Unfortunately, I can't recall how to do it, but if you google, you might be able to find it. That's one way to shut 'em up!

Back to the original topic of cell phones, wanna hear Luddite? We don't even have 'em here in Belize! We may eventually, for emergencies mostly, but for now, we're enjoying the freedom from the constant presence of the phone. We do have a land line in our condo.