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Lamenting the Demise of Hangups

Posted by Soulskill on from the replaced-by-butt-dials dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Ian Bogost writes about a cultural tradition we've mostly lost as smartphones have become ubiquitous: hanging up. While we still use the terminology (in the same way we say 'rewind' when skipping backward on our DVR), the physical act of hanging up a telephone when we're done using it no longer occurs. And we don't get that satisfying crash and clatter when hanging up on somebody to make a point. 'In the context of such gravity, the hangup had a clear and forceful meaning. It offered a way of ending a conversation prematurely, sternly, aggressively. Without saying anything, the hangup said something: we're done, go away. ... Today a true hangup — one you really meant to perform out of anger or frustration or exhaustion — is only temporary and one-sided even when it is successfully executed. Even during a heated exchange, your interlocutor will first assume something went wrong in the network, and you could easily pretend such a thing was true later if you wanted. Calls aren't ever really under our control anymore, they "drop" intransitively.' It's an interesting point about the minor cultural changes that go along with evolving technology."

15 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. They beauty of smart phones by dmomo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Make an aggressive hang-up app.

    1. Re:They beauty of smart phones by dmomo · · Score: 5, Informative

      And of course, dmomo's law rings true once more:
      "The Internet already did your idea":
      http://www.appbrain.com/app/the-cell-slammer/The.Slammer

    2. Re:They beauty of smart phones by nametaken · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't remember aggressive hang-ups being audibly distrubing. Maybe it's because you had hammered the switch down before the crashing noise.

      The real problem is that mobile phone calls disconnect all the time, and for a number of reasons. So terminating a call prematurely isn't always a definitive, "fuck you, you've been hung up on."

    3. Re:They beauty of smart phones by mcgrew · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Hanging up on someone was as rude as telling them to go fuck themselves. Anyone who misses hanging up on someone has something wrong with them.

      We've traded hanging up on someone with the even ruder talking on the phone when you're conversing with someone face to face. When the phone rang, the polite thing to do was answer it, say you had company and offer to call back. Now assholes just ignore you and gab on their phone. Didn't you kids have parents that taught you how to act like a human being?

      Don't get me started on musical ring tones, sometimes I feel like walking into next cube over and smashing their goddamned cell phone. Whoever came up with the idea should be tied to a chair and made to listen to the first fifteen notes of the song they hate worst, over and over.

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
    4. Re:They beauty of smart phones by ultranova · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The real problem is that mobile phone calls disconnect all the time, and for a number of reasons. So terminating a call prematurely isn't always a definitive, "fuck you, you've been hung up on."

      This problem is easy to solve:simply say "fuck you" before disconnecting.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  2. Lame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is really just an updated version of Seinfeld's cordless phone bit

  3. No app necessary. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Preface disconnecting with the following: "This is me hanging up on you".

    1. Re:No app necessary. by TapeCutter · · Score: 5, Informative

      "Fuck off" also works well.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  4. Forget the hangup.... I'm missing by Spy+Handler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the full duplex, circuit-switched, not-laggy realtime conversations I used to have on a landline phone. I could be talking, and the other party could be talking at the same time, and both of us could hear each other and understand everything.

    The young uns here will probably think I'm making this up. I'm not; back in the day, Candace Bergen could drop a pin and I could hear it over the phone.

    1. Re:Forget the hangup.... I'm missing by slimjim8094 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      To be honest I don't recall ever having a dropped landline call since 9/11 (northeast NJ so it's understandable that the network was properly overloaded)

      Say what you want about the Bell monopoly (and its Baby Bells) - they sure knew how to engineer a damn solid network.

      --
      I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
    2. Re:Forget the hangup.... I'm missing by romiz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      they sure knew how to engineer a damn solid network.

      That's what regulated, cost-oriented prices in a monopoly do. Gold plate everything, spare no expense in the research of perfection, and earn a fixed percentage on it. Nowadays, we spend money on advertisement instead, because it's much more efficient at recruiting clients than quality in a competitive market.

  5. Uh... you can still hang up on someone... by drcagn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you want to hang up on someone and deliver the same experience, just shout "fuck you!" and tap the "end call" button. You get the same satisfaction and they'll get the message. Is that so hard?

    --
    Scorta futuere amo!
  6. I miss the hang up... by lxs · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...about as much as I miss putting a new roll in the fax machine. i.e. not at all.
    But then again I bet if you look hard enough you'll find an old fart who thinks that VHS tapes are superior to Bluray.

  7. And before the phone? by Dog-Cow · · Score: 5, Funny

    Before we had the phone, there was no way to hangup at all! Let's lament the lack of smacking someone on the face and stalking off!

  8. Why would you want to keep them? by rssrss · · Score: 4, Funny

    It took me years of psychotherapy to get rid of my hangups. Why would I be sad about their demise?

    --
    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.