Hardy on phones
[Hardy] had a morbid suspicion of mechanical gadgets (he never used a watch), in particular of the telephone. In his rooms in Trinity or his flat in St George’s Square, he used to say, in a disapproving and slightly sinister tone: “If you fancy yourself at the telephone, there is one in the next room.” Once in a an emergency he had to ring me up: angrily his voice came at me: “I shan’t hear a word you say, so when I’m finished I shall immediately put the receiver down. It’s important you should come round between nine and ten tonight.” Clonk.
Will wrote:
Hahahahaha… I can relate. I hate phones because they’re so verbal, loudly ringing and demaning attention at a particular time, and I’m so visual, and stubbornly demand as much time as needed to do what I’m doing the way I want to do it. IM fits me much better.
Posted 21 Aug 2006 at 12:56 am ¶
Dan wrote:
I agree. A ringing phone is far more demanding than a new IM or email.
I’ve also come to appreciate email conversations as an alternative to face-to-face conversations because email allows for more time to think. When you need to respond to a difficult point, you can take an hour to research it or ponder it over lunch. It often makes for very civil and well thought-out discussions. Before email, I guess people just wrote letters — where these effects are probably more prevalent.
Posted 21 Aug 2006 at 8:56 am ¶