The Telephone Mania
Children love to speak on the Telephone. The older they get, the more they speak on this machine. The ringing of the phone is exciting for a child who is eager to pick up the receiver and begin a never-ending conversation, much to the annoyance of the parents who have to wait their turn to make a call. Sometimes, unnecessary calls to a friend can be so long that even urgent messages are put on hold.
Answering machines are the latest gadgets that have become most sought after. It is a device attached to the telephone instrument like an audio cassette and is used to record telephone messages in one’s absence.
All that is required is to switch on the machine before going out. If someone calls in your absence, it will be answered by a recorded message. The speaker should be brief while conveying the message.
Nowadays people have more than one phone installed in their houses so that others can get a chance to make calls without disrupting someone else’s conversation. Though telephones are indispensable commodities, they can become bones of contention as well.
The telephone is no doubt one of the important devices for communicating messages in a relatively short period, messages can be sent through letters and telegrams as well, but a telephone message is the fastest to receive.
Over the telephone one even hears the voice of the person who sends us the message and this makes the message more personal. It is so useful that even those who live a great distance from us can communicate with us. The telephone often brings a cure for loneliness and comforts anyone who can talk to the person he is missing. One can settle various problems within seconds over the phone. Quick decisions can be taken and one can function faster after speaking over the phone.
There are telephones at home, but they are also installed elsewhere for the convenience of the public. Railway stations, shops, post offices all have telephones where one can put in a coin and make a call. These public phones are a boon, but private phones can become a nuisance at times.
The telephone can ring at any time of the day. It can ring when we are in the bathroom, or when we are fast asleep, or when we are very comfortable in our chair reading a book. At such moments one curses the phone because it disturbs the peace and even encroaches upon privacy and solitude.
The phone has a way of ringing at an odd time and this can cause a great deal of frustration and anger. We tend to be very artificial when we attend a call at a time when we are in no mood to talk to anyone. The constant ringing of the phone irritates us.
A private phone sometimes becomes a public phone and this is another way by which it becomes a nuisance. The appeals of our neighbors to allow them to use our phone makes it public property. One cannot say “no” to one’s neighbors and often he or she finds neighbors talking and talking endlessly. In short public phones are not such a nuisance, but private phones often tend to become a nuisance.
