Why is it that mobile phones all make some annoying obnoxious sound when you turn them off? It makes no sense. Turning the phone off usually means not wanting to be disturbed by noise. There are many reasons for this, but a lot include being in a meeting or class or something that requires no interruptions. Like me, I have an acting class 2 nights a week and we're required to turn off our phones.
Fair enough, that's the way things are done in the modern world. So, when I get to class I press the button down really hard for it to turn off. Usually about the time class starts when I'm reminded of that damn thing by the teacher telling us to turn all phones off. About 30 seconds after doing that, this stupid, silly sounding tune goes off lasting about 5 seconds. And every time, I get a withering stare, and a comment like "phones off please".. and I'm like.. "what do you think I was fucking doing?".
The stupid thing is when I turn the thing back on, when I'm ready to go back out into the world where there's noise and communication and everything goes, all I get is a beep. One little beep. I I mean, who cares? It doesn't matter anymore. Make as much noise as you fucking like. I could probably tolerate a small beep like that while turning the phone off, though I'd still prefer silence, as I don't see the reason for it to make any noise at all.
The only thing I can think of is that they want you to make extra sure you know you're turning you're phone off. So you press the button, there's a pause, then then a little jingle that says, "you're turning your phone off now... ok?... just letting you know the phone is going off... um, sure you want the phone off.. you are aware that no one will be able to reach you during this time.. ok.. ok turning off now"... fade to black.
Just in case you weren't aware that pushing down really hard on that particular button was going to do that, or perhaps they think you will do it accidentally. I guess I'm just being saved from my own stupidity. I should thank the phone people.
8.28.2007
Query of the day.
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1 comment:
Ha!
Yeah, I feel your pain. Get a BlackBerry, like I have. It turns off (and on) all silent-like.
Having a new Macbook, I'm dealing with a related thing with the Mac: it plays the "happy chord" when the OS is starting normally. This isn't like the Windows startup sound, which (1) happens at the end of the start process and tells you it's ready to go, and (2) is configurable and can be turned off (or made less obtrusive). It appears to be simply telling you that your computer isn't stone-cold dead, and the startup process is starting (there's no sound when the GUI is actually ready to use), and you can't change it or turn it off. If I forget to mute the sound before I shut the computer down, or if the sound happened to be on when it froze and I had to restart... forget about a stealth restart.
Ugh.
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