Land lines, portable, mobile. My brother sometimes goes for a walk around the garden.
It’s not so boring, maybe?
I dunno.
I never do it in English. I always do it in Spanish. Same with hand gestures.
I suppose it is either learned when I learned the languages, or it is a crutch to help me handle the language I struggle with.
Pure predatory behavior.
It’s like killing a gazelle.
I’VE killed this gazelle/I’VE answered this phone!
Anyone want to try and take it from me?
Grrrrrrr.
i am a massive culprit of this.
I work in technical support and often stand up when i am thinking it through, it helps relieve the stress when I am at work because i can intake more air and breath deeper without sounding angruier, also if i am slouching and sitting you can hear it in my voice and i sound more aggressive if i am standing when i am talking to an annoying customer i sound friendlier.
At home i dont know but i will do laps of the house, all my gf’s have wondered why i do it but i just cant sit still i feel like i should be doing something else or i feel trapped if i have to sit.
good question though.
Zaphod
I’ve wondered why some people walk around as well. If I’m talking on the phone and lay down, I can do it indefinitely. However, if I’m sitting up, I have to get up and do something. Maybe QtM will be able to come through with some more medical-type ideas?
Well, in my case, it’s a combination of jittery nerves and a touch of hyperactivity. I walk around my apartment from kitchen to door, door to kitchen whenever I’m on the phone. I say it’s nerves because I’ve noticed that whenever a really important sporting event is on TV, I pace around the exact same way during commercials and stuff. I walk around less when I’m talking to family or something than I do when I’m calling a girl for the first time, or making an appointment. Neuroses, I guess.
See but i am opposite, if i have to do something like order a pizza or make an appointment then i more just stay in the one spot.
I use to have a bit of a phobia of doing things like ordering pizza’s or making appointments, just generally asking questions on the phone, it put me right out of my comfort zone and i would avoid it at all costs.
Working in Tech support got me over it a bit more because now i am more in control of the conversation when i am on the phone and i am the one now who decides where it goes. i think its just cause i never really get to just wander round my apartment, this way i get to see it all without missing out on doing something else.
Zaphod
Well, this is just MHO, but I believe that a “natural” conversation has much more stimulas than a phone conversation - visual cues and such. When you get on the phone, you don’t have as much stimulas and so the brain needs an outlet for all the “free energy.” OK, I’m saying it badly, but hopefully you get the idea…
Moved to IMHO.
-xash
General Questions Moderator
My theory is that recieving a surprise call from someone you know gives you a jolt of energy in the form of excitement. Walking it off, er, walks it off.
In most cases I cannot use the phone and sit at the same time. The one situation where I can sit and talk is at work, when one of our call-centre staff calls. And that is only because a) it’s not a cordless phone and b) the call can usually be dealt with very quickly and easily.
I don’t know why I do it, but I walk miles while I am on the phone. I think it helps me keep from getting sleepy while I am on the phone.
As annoying as it is for the other people in the house at the time, I find it to be very useful. I get more cleaning and organizing done while I am on the phone than I do any other time. I sometimes even leave things until I make a phone call, because it gives me something to do. Then again, I spend a large amount of time on the phone.
While I don’t really have an answer as to why some people roam around while on the phone, I know I am guilty of doing so. Especially at home. I’ll walk around the house rearranging items on shelves, picking up socks (I have a bad habit of taking them off and leaving them under the coffee table), watering plants, all kinds of things. I never really realized how much I do this until I witnessed my three-year-old daughter talking to her dad on the phone. She paced all around the living room, then went over to the shelves by the fireplace and started rearranging the family photos we have. It was pretty cute. Just last week, the cordless phone ran out of juice so I had to leave it on the charger. Her dad called to visit with her and she had to use this old phone I dug out (with a cord). She was confined to a three foot radius. It really irritated her, but I was amused. Poor kid. However, if I’m at work, I tend to sit at my desk, even though I have a cordless. I guess I’m in “Professional Mode” then.
This’s a durn good question.
I find when I’m on the phone, I don’t just meander, I walk like I’m on a friggin’ mission. I’ll walk into the kitchen, open and close the cupboards, the fridge, go to a window, pull back the blinds, look out. Walk over to the table and pick up papers and stack them. Walk into the bathroom and open the medicine cabinet, linen closet, shower curtain…
Jeez, it’s almost freakish when I describe it.
Happy
I’m glad I’m not the only one who does this. I walk around the house in circles. It’s something I’ve always done. I tend to pace anyway, and if I’m stuck in a chair, I fidget.
I remember one class in middle school when our teacher told us about different types of learners, and one was called a kinesthetic learner. I remember some of the traits were pacing and having to move around while thinking, and learning from doing things rather than reading about them. Has anyone else heard of this?
It’s a displacement activity. When you are on the phone you are cut off from any visual cues of the conversation and do few yourself. So you just have to do something. It also makes the conversation appear more natural, like you are perpetually pretending that the person you are talking to is in the next room, just out of sight, and you are following them around.
But it’s a strange one. I wander about all the time. Don’t know how I managed before wireless phones.
During particularly boring phone calls, I sometimes dance back and forth across the kitchen like Groucho Marx in the Duck Soup mirror scene. The caller, of course, never knows.
I walk when I’m on the phone. I’m generally just a bit nervous, and walking helps to focus my thoughts. I also pace when I’m waiting for busses, classes, whatver- any time when there isn’t a lot of stimulation and it’s gonna go on for a while. It passes the time, and makes my mind keep moving instead of getting all confused and crashing because it’s staying so still. Sometimes I’ll take a bus so I don’t have to make a twenty minute walk, and then pace for fifteen minutes till the bus arrives. It’s kind of silly.