Alexander Graham Bell invented the: A, Brandy Alexander; B, Graham Cracker, C; The most ubiquitous device in the world which enables you to scrape the detritus of your brain and let everyone and anyone be aware of your very important thoughts on any subject of which they don’t care. There are, however, limited numbers of people who have actually utilized a rotary phone which can send a 21st century person into fits of pique when asked “Can you make a call on this device?”
Back in the old days (Before smart phones) unless you told someone where you were, they couldn’t get in touch with you. In the city, mothers would have to shout their child’s name from their window to have their kids come home from play time. If you were playing too far from your door, a sympathetic mother would pick up the call and yell out the child’s name too. The further you were from home, the more moms would chime in. That was the mom-to-mom-to-mom system. It has become an antiquated practice. It’s almost like when a dog hears another dog bark, they must bark in response.
Today, we’re tracked with cameras everywhere you look. We enjoy smart cars and smart phones even though most of us can’t comprehend the totality of the technology. Let’s face it, it’s difficult to get lost nowadays and let’s not even talk about that pesky Google Earth picture that shows you picking your nose on the sidewalk in front of your house.
Today, while in a crowd, you can sometimes hear a faint ‘ping.’ It’s almost imperceptible, but someone just received a text. It’s just a little ‘nudge’ from the technological side of life, but you almost feel compelled to answer. Could it be the ‘Wow, someone’s trying to contact me’ thing that goes off in your head because your self-worth equals that of a camel herder? When you get ‘pinged’ with a text message do you have the immediate urge to grope for the phone or do you keep it parked in your hand like a small comfort animal?
We’re disturbed when we hear someone else’s music in our private hearing space. We don’t like it when we can smell someone else’s heavy perfume. People even balk when they see someone walking with their pants down below their waist. Come on, it’s a fashionista thing, isn’t it?
We thought we were safe with the national ‘Do not call’ list but the insistent tele-marketers got wise to the fact that since it wasn’t lining the pockets of anyone in Washington, no one paid attention to it.
With another election cycle looming like a filibuster for a bogus issue, we’re apt to be fielding un-wanted political calls and texts day and night. Although lonely people may look forward to hearing from a political action committee, there are more than 50 million people who do not want calls from telemarketers. That’s a huge bloc of voters.
Sometimes you want to open the window, lean out and scream ‘Don’t bug me!”
Let’s get behind a national ‘Do Not Disturb’ list, just like the do not disturb signs for your hotel room. Make it a universal sign like a person holding their hands to their ears and place a vertical slash through it. It’s not only for personal use. Hang it on the city line, the county line, State line. Countries can hang it on their borders when they just don’t want to be bothered.
