Caller ID

I posted previously about how technology has done wonders for our society and our world, but in that post I also threw out the notion that too much technology isn't always a good thing. Case in point: Caller ID.

What a wonderful invention for avoiding sales calls, or to see who has called and possibly left messages for us. It also tells me if I need to answer a call on my way out the door to work, or just check my voicemail later. The more insidious use, of course, is to screen my personal calls, and I find myself doing that more and more. If one of my wife's friends call the house I am generally disinclined to answer if my wife is not home. There are only a few folks my lovely bride hangs-out with that I can take for any span of time. Also, when one of my son's little buddies calls the house and he's not here I let that baby ring off the hook. Chatting with eight- to twelve-year-olds who don't share my DNA drives me pretty nuts.

Does this make me evil? Well, sometimes. The courteous thing to do is to answer the phone and take a message, but thank God for Caller ID and voicemail! I don't have to have common courtesy at all. I can put the call into permahold and let the digital gods scribe my message for me. While this may be convenient, I think sometimes it is TOO convenient. It keeps me from having to brush up on my social skills, and generally turns me into an ass.

I rationalize it with only one thing; my job. All day long I have to take calls for service from people I like to serve, but with whom I don't necessarily want to have a long conversation. (I actually responded on a 911-hangup call this last week where the guy told me he called because he was depressed and just wanted to talk to somebody. I did stick around a while on that call and got him to the point where he was just going to hit the sack and call a friend in the morning, but most of the time we're too busy to be somebody's shoulder to cry on.)

Once again technology has snaked its way from the far future into our daily lives, but in my experience with Caller ID it seems to have done me more harm than good.

Gotta' let you go...phone's ringing. Oh, nevermind. Looks like I can surf the net some more! ;)