The telephone game
“Don't leave me hanging on the telephone…”
Do you remember as a kid playing the telephone game? It’s a catchy call and response song, and it arrived in my childhood courtesy of a camp I attended which was organised by the Brownies. It goes a little something like this:
Caller: Hey Emma,
Response: Someone’s calling my name
Caller: Hey Emma,
Response: I think I hear it again.
Caller: You’re wanted on the telephone.
Response: If it’s not Pearl I’m not at home….
There are slightly different iterations of it, but that is the general gist of the song. This tune entered my head again this week, as I have been thinking about phones and my usage of my mobile phone a lot over the past couple of weeks.
I recently re-watched an episode of Downton Abbey and it happened to include a few scenes where the first telephone was being installed into the house. Carson the butler and the others were all highly suspicious of it, and they all jumped when it first rang, it made me smile but also it made me think, imagine being in a world where this seemed like a totally alien invention and now we are at a point where we pretty much have a phone on us all the time and we are contactable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
I have noticed that my phone use has significantly increased since I have been back from Australia, when I was away I only had access to it when I was back at a hotel using free Wi-Fi, as I didn’t pay to use my data and I didn’t buy another sim card to use when I was out there. I was fully in the moment all the time, and only having allocated snippets of time to use it made me feel free. Having a time difference also meant any messages or notifications weren’t read instantly as I knew whatever was waiting for me, I could only see once I returned to my hotel room. It gave me a chance to miss people, and looking at apps, emails and even Substack felt more like a toe dip into a pool rather than a full submersion. The instant-ness of a phone and its notifications were delayed, and this drastically reduced my screen time and phone usage.
I have never been one for social media apps but now my phone tells me my phone usage is up, and the main culprit is the Substack app…(gasp!) I have never had Twitter, or installed the Facebook app and the only one on my phone is Instagram, but to be honest its appeal is slowly wearing off, as it seems to be one big advert and full of suggested content these days. I will admit that Substack has overtaken most of the other social media sites I used to look at, which I think is a good thing but some days I do wonder if I am focusing too much time on it (I recently felt like I was spending too much time on notes, so changed my app view to inbox first). The recent introduction of the DM feature has also made me question how much time I have been spending on here as well. But then I counter my argument with some observations that overall Substack seems like a healthier place at the moment - no algorithms or adverts, and everyone who I've engaged with in the community has been lovely, and it’s allowed me to write and learn so much. So I wonder if my usage is more down to where I am right now and not the platform.
I recently wrote a piece about how noughties popular culture influenced my teenage wants and desires, and one of the things I mentioned was the Motorola Razr V3, which was a phone I desperately wanted as a teen and got. Although it was pink and shiny, the features were pretty basic and I don’t actually think I used it that much, outside using it to take pictures, call or text people. It’s only as smartphones have evolved that a phone has become so much more, it’s a massive paradox as it gives us updates about our screen time but at the same time gives us access to everything and anything all the time.
During my childhood and teenage years, I remember sitting on the hallway stairs with a landline plugged in taking calls and when dial-up internet turned up not having access to a phone line at all as it cut it off. Answering machines are also another casualty of the smartphone as they are now redundant, I remember friends and their families used to create crazy inventive machine messages, which is now a thing of the past due to our instant contactability. A phone back then was only a form of communication and nothing else, it wasn’t our life in a shiny metal case.
There are hundreds of songs about telephone calls as either the subject or a theme of the song. Including at least three songs called ‘Call Me’, then there is ‘Hello!’ By Adele and ‘Call Me Maybe’ by Carly Rae Jepsen. There are thousands of scenes in television and film where a phone is used. It’s etched into every section of society and is widely accessible to all.
However, there are more and more reports on the negative impact of phone usage on our mental and physical health. It’s a fine line between staying connected to a world that is increasingly happening online and being present in the real world. I feel like my balance is slightly off at the moment, and I am working to readjust it. I’m not constantly on my phone for hours on end, but I have noticed my increased usage of it and its effects on me. I am trying to go back to old habits of not turning my phone on first thing in the morning and also charging it in another room. I turn it off overnight and don’t use it for my alarm. It’s little steps, but it feels like I’m retraining my brain, and it’s been a really interesting thing to observe, stepping away from the blue light of the screen and turning back to natural light and the present moment.
How do you feel about your phone? Have you grappled with your usage of it?