Pet Peeves

The wonderful thing about the advance of technology is that now you have such a multitude of options and choices in where and how you communicate with people. We've gone from a society that had to write letters to communicate, to one that could make phone calls to places of work or residences, to one that could communicate just about anywhere on earth through email and the internet, to one that could make phone calls to just about anywhere because of mobile phones, to one that can do all off the above, plus now we can send instant text messages through mobiles phones.

What does that mean? We can basically reach anyone, anywhere, anyway and at anytime. That's the good part. The bad part is that we can be reached by anyone, anywhere, anyway, at anytime.

So what if you don't want to be reached? Well, you could always not own a phone/computer/latest technological gadget, but then that limits your ability to reach out... Other options? Don't take the phone with you, turn it off, screen your calls, let calls go to your message bank and return messages at your leisure.

All viable options unless someone 'out-technologies' you. (Yup, I just made up that word.) You know the type who ask for receipts on emails and can quote when you read the message and the time that has elapsed between reading and response...

So, what's my pet peeve? People who track text messages. I have actually had people call me after I've read a message on my phone, asking why I haven't answered their text? or when I haven't answered the call, asking why I didn't answer the call when I obviously had my phone on me as they had tracked the text message and knew I had received it.

Slightly psycho - and slightly intimidating. Makes you more than slightly want to 'break-up' with that friend (see earlier blog entry "Breaking Up is Hard to Do").

Why does this world operate on everything having to happen RIGHT NOW. What if I didn't answer because I was in the middle of something? What if I wanted time to think about it? What if I didn't want to be tracked down? What if I didn't answer just because I didn't feel like it?

Now I have to go to extraordinary lengths to figure out who sent me the message before I read it just to ensure it isn't a person who tracks messages. It makes me feel claustrophobic.

It makes me feel stalked.