Presence and availability

My friend Kim recently wrote on her Twitter feed:

who needs a mobile phone anyway? why be CONSTANTLY available? darn new-fangled devices only cause trouble... (new one arrives wednesday)

In a way, I sympathize. I've got too many darn newfangled devices myself, and they just keep getting more complicated, and some (notably my phone) less reliable as well.

My phone is a PDA with a usable web browser (Opera). It also has the best personal to do app I've seen.

I still have my Palm T5, which keeps my schedule and a bunch of reference information: Bibles, a nice dictionary, grocery list, world clock, etc. I just can't part with it yet.

As to why should we be constantly available? We don't. I don't really turn my phone off anymore, but I do regularly put it on do not ring. That way, I know when I miss calls.

Cell phones can be terribly convenient, but they don't always need to be answered; caller ID is helpful here as well. Voice mail has been accepted by almost all callers. My policy: answer calls when it's convenient, and return missed calls and voice mails as soon as it's convenient. I sometimes follow up missed calls and voice mails with emails or text messages, which since they're not real-time media, lowers the urgency of a conversation.

That's my two cents.