Mobile Devices Aren't Phones

I love my mobile device. I have an Apple iPhone 4S and I am sure I will continue to use smart phones even if I shy away from Apple. I will continually use a smart phone because I use every app on the phone, except one. I don’t use the phone. My mobile device is essentially a text message device. It is not a phone.

I hate having phone conversations on my mobile device. The delay between a person talking and my ear receiving it is too long. I remember thinking the same thing when mobile phones started becoming popular in 1999. However, I assumed, like other technologies it would become better over time. It hasn’t.

Landlines Were Awesome

When was the last time you had a landline-to-landline conversation?

I remember how awesome they used to be. If someone interrupted you, you would stop talking. The interaction was immediate. It simulated a face-to-face conversation. Mobile phones have changed, perhaps redefined, the simulated in-person interaction.

With mobile phones if someone decides to interrupt or contribute to the conversation there is no immediate notification. Two separate and distinct dialogs happen at the same time. When both parties realize an interruption has happened the collision conversation happens - The awkward exchange which happens immediately after the interruption - to determine who should now speak.

Mobile phones are more similar to citizen band than telephones. When we use a mobile device and finish our thought, should we say “over,” just so the person on the other end of the phone understands we’re done talking.

These two things, the interruption experience and the lack of in-person simulation, make me never want to talk on my mobile phone.

Text Me. Don’t Call.

Although I don’t like talking on the phone, I send a ton of text messages. Ex-colleagues have called me a 15-year old girl for how often I send out text messages. Most conversations can be summed up with a few sentences anyway. Other than wanting to hear someone’s voice, I don’t know a single reason I would want to have a conversation on a mobile phone.