Family on the Phone » Amy

Top 10 Ways To Celebrate National Cell Phone Courtesy Month

Amy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:52:00 +0000

Were you aware July is National Cell Phone Courtesy Month? I wasn’t either. I think they’ll make a National “something” for everything, however, I think this one is much needed. I posted a while back about my pet peeves. Some of this post will be repeating some of that information but I believe it bears repeating.

What can we do to celebrate this Courtesy Month? I think there is much to be done here and I believe also that anyone who uses their cell phone regularly could at least improve on one or more of the items below. Be honest with yourself. How courteous are you on your phone?

Buy a headset of some sort for your phone. Use it while you are driving for goodness sakes. Be a responsible cell phone driver. Better yet, make only necessary calls ON your headset while driving. No need for idle chit chat while behind the wheel.
That said, ONLY use the headset such as a Bluetooth while you are driving. Don’t confuse the heck out of people by chatting with those blasted things while walking through the mall or during conversation with other people. Talk about annoying!
Don’t be a loud talker on your phone. Why, oh why, do people suddenly raise their voices while talking on their cell phones?
No one wants to hear your drama, we have enough of our own! Arguments, emotional outbursts or inappropriate conversation is best kept in a private area and at a reasonable tone.
Respect the signs that say “No Cell Phone Use In This Building”. They are seriously there for a reason.
Vibrate, vibrate, vibrate! Can’t say this enough! If you must talk or text, please use vibrate in quiet places. Not everyone wants to hear your fabulous new ringtone by P. Diddy.
In connection with ringtones, even in places where hearing a ringtone would be fine, watch what your ringtone says. I’ve heard some really raunchy ones, both talking and songs. Thing of other people and respect their feelings.
Remember it IS ok to let your voicemail pick up. You do not have to answer every single call at any given moment.
Be kind and considerate of service employees no matter where they are. Talk to them when you need to without chatting on your phone at the same time. Your calls will wait.
Be in the moment! Don’t be so connected that you can’t take an hour lunch with a friend or spend some time playing with your child at the park. Unless it is an emergency, a true one, take time out to be with the people in front of you.

So, lets remember all these simple rules of cell phone courtesy this month and every month! Everyone around you will be most appreciative!

On another closing note, this will be my last post on Family on the Phone as an intern. I’ve enjoyed these weeks tremendously. I’ve grown as a writer and a person during this time. I hope you’ll welcome and continue to follow the next intern. I may come back occasionally to guess blog here so look for me.

Goodbye and happy (and courteous) chatting!

photo credit: CarbonNYC

Alyssa Asks Me About Landlines: CBC Concludes

Amy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:45:18 +0000

Alyssa Avant

Today I am finishing up my Cross Blog Conversation with Alyssa Avant. You can read my most recent question to her and her response here.

For her last question Alyssa asks me this: What is your opinion on cell phones versus landlines? Do you have a landline at home or only cell phones? We recently went to being a cell phone only family and I believe this is the way of the future, what about you?

Alyssa, I do still have a landline but this is for two reasons. First, my internet is DSL and I’ve signed an agreement for a year for that. Secondly, my cell phone doesn’t always get the best reception here in my house. I do believe having a cell phone only is the way of the future.

Alyssa, I also want to take this time to thank you for doing this CBC with me. It’s been a pleasure to work with you. I wish you much success in all your endeavors.

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Amy — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:17:21 +0000

I can’t believe my internship with Family on the Phone is almost over. It’s been a fun ride for me. It has stretched and challenged my writing skills. From the time I was little, I have loved the telephone. In fact, communication in all forms is as passion for me. I’m extremely social so my cell phone is like a lifeline for me. I love to stay connected at all times.

Working with Kelly McCausey and the interns at Mom’s Talk Network has been such a pleasure. I couldn’t imagine a better use of my time. Speaking of Kelly, she is an amazing teacher and someone I consider a mentor of sorts. Her website Mom Masterminds has some amazing internet marketing resources for moms and you are able to connect there with other moms there doing the same thing as well. They are celebrating their 5th Anniversary this year, so pop on over there and take advantage of all they have to offer.

Kelly is now offering an opportunity like no other. She is offering a Blog Internship. This is a way for you to learn from one of the best internet marketers in the business. You will learn how to work with WordPress, learn how to use social networks to promote your blog, understand how to use affiliate marketing, and begin a habit of posting daily. I promise you this experience will change your life for the better.

I hope you will enjoy the last week of my internship and take advantage of the resources I’ve talked about today. Also, do have a lovely celebration of our nations Independence Day.

Alyssa Asks Me About My Teens And Their Phones

Amy — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:58:07 +0000

Alyssa Avant

Today I continue my Cross Blog Conversation with Alyssa Avant. See Alyssa’s response to my last question on her blog. In this installment of our conversation, Alyssa asks me this:

“Amy, I know you have older children. Do they all have cell phones? How do they play into your communication with your children?”

I had three children, Alyssa and they are 11, 19, and 24. They all have cell phones actually. My oldest is on his own plan. My younger son is on a family plan with me and my daughter, the ‘Tween, has a prepay phone.

Our cell phones are very important to our communication. My older son and I text back and forth all the time and call each other at least once a day. My middle child, the 19 yo, and I communicate solely on the cell phone since he moved out of state with his father. My daughter uses her phone if she goes to a friend’s house to spend the night or when she is outside playing.It is only to call me or her brothers. She knows she is not to be texting or calling her friends and after two months of having a phone, she hasn’t broken that rule.

Some people don’t see the need for ‘Tweens to have a phone, but it has come in very handy more than once. Calling her on her cell is much easier than hollering down the street for her if I need her. She uses maybe 20 minutes a month and it costs me very little.

Alyssa, my question this time for you is this: How do you feel about the laws regarding talking and texting on the phone while driving? Most of us are guilty of talking on the phone while driving sometimes. Do you use a headset and talk while you drive or not talk at all?

You can see Alyssa’s response to this question on her blog.

Cell Phone Link Love

Amy — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:40:49 +0000

It’s time for Family on the Phone’s Sunday Link Love! I found just a couple cell phone blog posts this week and I want to share them with you here.

Maverick at Man About Town wrote an informative and interested post about a brand new feature soon to be available from Google. It’s called Google Voice and you should definitely check it out.

Tommy Schweller at Adazon shouted out about the new technology involving cell phones scanning bar codes. Can’t wait for this! Check out his post.

I hope you’ll check them out and give them some comment love!
photo credit: doobybrain

How Dangerous Is Talking On Your Cell Phone Really?

Amy — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:04:05 +0000

Surely you’ve seen reports of cell phone injuries, cancer, and other maladies from cell phone use. What do you think about it all? Well, here is my response to all the hoopla.

Cell Phone Elbow~Caused by holding the phone up to your ear from extended periods of time. This causes a tightness at the elbow. It stops the blood flow to the nerve that controls the small fingers. Tingling and numbness results. Doctors say switching hands while talking helps. I say, “DUH!” I mean doesn’t this just make sense? Also, getting an earpiece would help considerably if you are a long talker. I’m not saying in any way this injury isn’t real, just silly.

Blackberry Thumb or Texting Thumb~This is caused by texting on tiny little keyboards, especially I guess the Blackberry keyboard. Ok, now this one really gets me. Do these people ever think that maybe they are just texting too darn much? Remember Nintendo thumb? I do and I thought that was a little silly then but I do recall getting cramps in my thumb playing Super Mario Brothers for hours on end. Maybe I’m just as guilty here. However, I certainly stopped playing when the cramping began. That’s just me.

Cancer~This cancer scare is really no joke, but is there really any proof of this yet? One set of studies by the cellular industry links cell phone use and brain cancer. The FDA says more studies are needed. I agree with the FDA. I remember lots of studies linking many things with numerous cancers. I’m not trying to stick my head in the sand on this, just trying to be realistic.

One word comes to mind here. Moderation! One more is common sense.

Now for a grin, have you seen the news article about the first man ever with a Twitter injury? He sustained is injury from a tree branch which hit him in the head while he was Twittering away on his Blackberry. James Coleman, a British man, jokes about it in an article in the Telegraph. He calls himself a “Twit”. He has Twittered about his injury and intelligently now vows to keep his cell phone in his pocket while jogging to work.

As for me, I plan to be very careful and hopefully smart about my cell phone use. I will switch hands while talking, perhaps even use an earpiece. I will text within reasonable limits. And, I will most definitely not text or Twitter with low lying branches about.

photo credit: Kevin Cortopassi

Meme time: Randomness

Amy — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:47:53 +0000

Today I’m doing something new for me. I’m participating in a meme. I like this one because it is different all the time. This time, the mission (and I chose to accept it) is to list a few of my favorite quotes. Since I LOVE quotes, I knew it was for me.

My quotes, since this is Family on the Phone, will all be about communication. That said, here we go.

Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after. ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh
The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it. ~Edward R. Murrow
When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen. ~Ernest Hemingway
Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people. ~William Butler Yeats
The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives. ~Anthony Robbins
There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it. ~Dale Carnegie
Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% about how you feel about what you know. ~Jim Rohn
Communication is not only the essence of being human, but also a vital property of life. ~John A. Piece
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. ~George Bernard Shaw
To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others. ~Anthony Robbins
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. ~Epictetus
Communication is the real work of leadership. ~Nitin Nohria

I would like to thank Naida from Randomness for her lovely Meme. I shall be participating again.

I’m tagging the following:

Erin Hill at Mommy In Progress
Jendi at Jendis Journal
Angie Green at Virtual Assistant 3.0

Thankful Thursday: Thankful for Opportunities

Cell Phones And Cheating In School: Where Are The Teachers?

Amy — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:45:03 +0000

A new study by Commonsense Media shows that 1/3 of all students with a cell phone has cheated at least once with their phone. They do this by texting, going online and by storing information on their phone. Amazingly 52% of teens admitted to some form of cheating using the internet. A whopping 1 in 4 students doesn’t feel what they are doing is considered cheating. Of course, out of 76% of parents, although they believe it happens at school, only 3% think their child has cheated. Imagine that!

Now, are these results that remarkable really? No, not really. From writing on the hand to passing notes, kids have always found a way to cheat. Most parents will stick their head in the sand on this issue. Little Johnny would NEVER do that!

My question is where are the teachers? I was a substitute teacher for a while. I never sat at my desk during a test. I walked the room constantly watching and letting the students be very aware I was watching. Students are less likely to even attempt to cheat if they know they are being closely watched. Ask them, they’ll tell you. If I saw a cell phone, I took it until the end of class. Simple. I may not have caught every cheater, but I bet I deterred a lot of cheating and stopped others dead in their tracks.

I know many teachers that use test time to grade papers and do other administrative work only glancing up occasionally. In this day of technology, that isn’t going to work anymore.

Cell phones are not to blame here, although they certainly are the accomplice. Teachers need to be more proactive and parents need to focus on instilling more about the value of honesty in their children. (But, that is a whole other blog post.)

Just my .02 for today.

photo credit: jennie-o

My Dream Cell Phone

Amy — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:17:58 +0000

I am in love. It’s true. I am a Team Mobile customer and I was browsing their website today when I found my next phone.

Meet the latest Android-based mobile phone from T-Mobile.

It is the My Touch 3G. It makes my eyes a little moist to describe it to you. The features of this phone are phenomenal. Check it out for yourself. It will be available in August but you can reserve it on July 8th. It runs about $200.

These are the fantastic features:

It is completely personalizable! It has themes and skins and you can customize menus, wallpapers and icons like you wouldn’t believe.
Of course, it has the 3G network, meaning you can surf, talk, text, email and download music at lightening speeds.
It has a touch screen display and a virtual keyboard and goes from portrait to landscape with ease in most applications.
It has personalized widgets you can add and arrange however you like.
It has fully integrated Google Search, Google Maps and Gmail and even has a Google Search Widget right on the home screen!
With it’s 3.2 MP camera, you can shoot video or pics and send them to your family and friends using the Picasa or YouTube widget.
A featured widget is Sherpa; a learning application which gets more useful every time you use it. It learns with you.

So now you know. I have a new passion and it’s name is the MyTouch 3G by T-Mobile. Sigh. Oh, did I mention it is beautiful? Well, it is.

Has The House Phone Become Obsolete?

Amy — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:34:26 +0000

I remember with great fondness when my parents got me what was called a Teen Talk Line when I was about fifteen or so. The phone company called the second line by this name because so many parents would get that second line just for teenagers so they could keep their main line free for important calls. Call waiting was not in existence yet.

My love of being on the telephone began at an early age and the phone was always attached to my ear. I would wake up to the telephone call of my best buddy and often fall asleep talking late at night. For an extra $12 a month, the main line was free and I was a happy camper. I don’t love talking on the phone as much as I used to mind you. But, I still log in my fair share of phone hours. However, my cell phone gets much more attention than my lonely house phone.

More and more people I talk to are getting rid of their land line phones in favor of just maintaining their cell phones. I haven’t done this yet. The reason is simple for me. I have DSL with my local phone company. I made a 1 year commitment on my DSL and it is a package deal. I don’t have long distance on my land line; I use my cell phone for that.

My other reason for maintaining my land line is my cell phone is not 100% reliable here in my home. It works great down the road but not always in my house. I can text all day long but sometimes I have to hold the phone just right to get a signal, which is a pain. Of course, I signed a contract on my cell phone too not knowing the service would be as it is. That said, I would be lost without my cell phone.

I also found what looks to be a great read on cell phones on Amazon. It is called Money from Thin Air: The Story of Craig McCaw, the Visionary who Invented the Cell Phone Industry, and His Next Billion Dollar Idea.

What about you? I would love to hear from my readers on this one. Do you have a landline? If so, why do you keep yours around? Have you canceled your home phone and gotten everyone mobile phones? Does this save you money? Are you happy with your decision?