My dad’s health is very, very bad right now, and isn’t going to get any better. I’m trying to spend as much time with him as I can right now, and I’m careful to make sure I have my phone charged and nearby, in case there’s an emergency.
I mention this to make it clear that I would not, normally, stop having sex with my boyfriend to answer my phone. But when my mom calls me at 12:30 at night, well, that’s a call I should really take. Which is how I ended up standing in my boyfriend’s living room, naked, sticky, and experiencing mild cardiac arrest, while my mom laid out in some detail the dinner options open to me when I came by the house the next day.
It took me years to train my mother to leave context with both texts and voicemails.
She has a tendency to do more than one thing at a time. Which means whenever she leaves a message, she sounds extremely stressed. Has caused many a heart attack for me.
Now, I get, ‘Can you call me about <such and such>?’ or ‘Just calling to chat.’
Just to comment on this. My mother and I talk on the phone maybe once a week if there is an emergency (usually of the I need parenting advice variety). Otherwise, we have text conversations. That’s right. Almost constantly. We might not answer each other for hours and it’s usually banal.
But there’s this thing; my mom and I LIKE this. That’s right, both of us. We get opinions, updates, etc. It rocks.
As long as it’s not bothering anyone else, I don’t see the constant chatter as a problem.
ETA: now, when I get an email, I know I’m in trouble.
This part was addressing the comments as to why you wouldn’t just call yourself since sending a text involved a phone at both ends.
If I were to receive a “call me” text from someone I frequently communicate with, I wouldn’t assume someone died. It would be different if it were from a more distant relative who I didn’t talk to that often.
Now see I have the opposite problem. Sometimes I have an amusing story to tell and texting doesn’t relay the correct humor to make it a fun anecdote. But I have a certain friend who would rather text the fun right out of it.
Me: Call me later, I have a funny story
Fr: What is it?
Me: Funny thing happened I want to tell you about it.
Fr: What happened?
Me: It’s about Joe. I will tell you tonight.
Fr: Did he get arrested again?
Me: Yes but let me tell you later
Fr: Was it drugs?
Me: No, prostitution
Fr: OMG! Tell me
Me: I will, later
Fr: I gotta know! Where?
etc.
I don’t have a clue why people send text messages rather than just calling or leaving a voice message, most of the time. Do you really like wasting time and energy?
I know a few people who will post publicly on fb, the message “Call me” to a friend or in a comment to the friend’s post. I always take it as a social pissing contest.
Years ago, bored and drunk, I texted a number of people: “WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU???”
It has turned into a kinda meme that my friends have shared/discussed over the years. Most people assumed they had agreed to meet me or pick me up somewhere. They freaked out, texting back apologies and such. My brother was the only one who took it as a simple question and texted back, “grocery store. And you?”
In the civilization 5 video game they have a quote reportedly from Mark Twain. “I once sent a dozen of my friends a telegram saying ‘flee at once - all is discovered.’ They all left town immediately.”
I freely admit to sending texts or leaving voicemails for my friends and family that are pretty much “Hey, call me when you get a minute” and having received similar. To date, none of us have snatched up the phone immediately in a lather about what horrific tidings await, but then again we have kind of a presumption that if something’s important, the message will be more along the lines of “Call me as soon as you get this, it’s important.”
In a business context, however, that’s just bullshit. It’s common courtesy (and provides a better experience for everyone involved) if you give someone a chance to pull up and review the relevant portion of your file before calling you back.
Well, most of my friends and family have chunks of time when their phone ringing is A Bad Thing, and those chunks vary by person and often by day of the week. It’s easier to just text “call me when have a minute” than to sit there trying to remember if someone is at work or class right now, or if this is the night they get pissy about the phone ringing because it disrupts their favorite show. Also, some people almost never answer the damn phone when it rings, but are all over text messages the second they come through.
I’m still of the opinion that it’s the job of the person of the phone to make sure their phone won’t ring in a bad situation. Texting is going to make their phone make a noise, too, if they haven’t put it on silent.
When a man says ‘call me’ to a woman,it’s a sign he is not ready.
A woman ideally is pursued,meaning the man initiates calling.
While dating him,he initiates the calling during the first few weeks.
The above is good relationship building technique.