SHOP PRODUCTS
Houzz Logo Print
oklamoni

phone ?

OklaMoni
6 years ago

Where do you put your phone overnight?

Mine lives in the living room, after I send it flying, just before going to bed. ;) I mean, I turn it to flight mode.

No matter what, I don't want to be awoken by the phone.

Once apart of time, when all we had was one phone in the living room (1972-1977) I would take it off the hook. My folks in Germany wouldn't remember the time difference, and call to chit chat when ever they wanted to. I had such a hard time to get back to sleep, that I quit letting it ring at night.

Nothing is really so important, that I can't handle it after I get up in the morning.

Sending my phone flying, doesn't keep it from accepting messages, or letting me know about a missed call, or telling me I have a voice message... but it makes NO sound. I love that option.


So, I wonder how many people wake up because of their phone, and where others keep theirs.


Moni

PS, my phone lives on the same table during the day. I do not have it on me during daytime hours either.

Comments (45)

  • sleeperblues
    6 years ago

    I have it on my bedside table. I'm on call 50% of my life, and sometimes the hospital will call the landline and sometimes they will call my cell. Also, my kids live in Europe and are 7 hours ahead of my time. Sometimes they will text me, sometimes I will hear it and read it in the middle of the night. Sometimes I don't hear it, but in case of an emergency I like to be immediately available.

  • eld6161
    6 years ago

    I agree with sleeper. Since we now all have cell phones, it is easier to stay in touch no matter where we are.

    I have gotten used to this. Although our DD's are out and on their own, we still might get an emergency call from them.

    I would never leave my phone off the hook or off. Yes, you can deal with minutia the next day, but I would feel awful if something were to happen that did need immediate attention. For that reason, every phone is on.

    My DH has his in our bedroom. But, mine can be downstairs or in my office which is the next room. Our house is small and the only place I can't hear it is I go to my laundry room in the basement.

  • Related Discussions

    Cell Phone and Home Phone Signs

    Q

    Comments (7)
    I loved reading about the signs you're received, Lulie. I believe they were from your Dad. A friend of mine died in 2008 and as we were driving to my parent's for Thanksgiving dinner that year I noticed a trailer that belonged to my friend's employer parked in a storage lot and was thinking how weird that was (it hadn't been there the day before) and at that very moment I get a text message from a unfamiliar number. It just said "Hi!". I've had that phone for 5 years and have only got 1 other text message and that was from my daughter (yes, I am behind on the times. lol). Maybe it was just some kid goofing around or maybe it was my friend saying "Hi" from the otherside? The timing was perfect anyhow. Miss you at the KT Lulie!
    ...See More

    cell phone ? if you buy a cell phone, from let's say

    Q

    Comments (15)
    It depends on the phone and the carriers. There's a number of different types of service out there too. For instance different carriers use different frequencies (CDMA, PCS, GSM, etc) SIM cards are suggestive of GSM technology used by Tmo and ATT. If you're looking to use prepaid service you can sometimes use the phones but won't always have all the features. If you're looking for a contract service, then as cautioned before, beware of costs to change. Often the smallest thing will extend your contract. For instance, if you get a new phone, you generally get a new (extended) contract with hefty cancellation fees. You'll have to get more info from the companies, but generally speaking, Tmo will not be interchangeable with Virgin and Verizon. Tmo & AT&T are more likely to be options. Probably not answering your question, but not an easy question to answer!
    ...See More

    Great. My iPhone8 seems to have died. What size? Don't like big phones

    Q

    Comments (11)
    Thanks, ladies. I've tried reviving it through iTunes and through the volume/shutdown buttons, but no luck there either. I was on Verizon support, too. It looks like the 12 mini is about the same size so maybe that. I guess if I'm going to buy I will go with the latest technology. Yeah, all of a sudden going to bed last night it froze and got stuck in the shutdown mode. That's how my previous one died, too.
    ...See More

    Q: iPhone broken, dropped too often. May get a new phone - Questions…

    Q

    Comments (20)
    I too switched from an Android phone to an iPhone in the last year. Grudgingly but because Android phone prices and sizes have gone up too much for my preferences and iPhones have dropped. Apple products do automatically integrate. For some, that's useful. For others, like my wife, it's a capability without much usefulness. Both types of phones work competently though somewhat differently. There is little in the way of hardware differences, it's mostly in the user interfaces. I have become competent with the iPhone's idiosyncrasies, but I don't prefer its user interface. It tends to be inflexible with settings and doesn't offer users configuration options that Android does. A summary of my familiarity with both - for most users, there's little difference in functionality.
    ...See More
  • Michael
    6 years ago

    In the guest bedroom, set to Do Not Disturb mode from 7 PM to 7 AM, with the exception of favorites, daughter and son only.

  • dbarron
    6 years ago

    My phone is handy, it has an auto dnd mode when placed face down on a flat surface. You can set contacts to be able to ring through, I have a couple that can.

  • mamapinky0
    6 years ago

    Why not just turn sound off.

  • Michael
    6 years ago

    You can do that too but if you keep it near you, the light may disturb your sleep.

  • Marilyn Sue McClintock
    6 years ago

    MIne is right next to me, all the time. No one calls at night unless it is an emergency. It is there if I need it.

    Sue

  • marilyn_c
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I keep mine on the charger at night, on my desk. I don't carry it with me when I am outside because if I do, and it is in my pocket, it calls someone that I had no intention of talking to. I keep it on the porch and check it when I walk by.

  • rob333 (zone 7b)
    6 years ago

    Every waking moment, it's on or near me. When I go to bed, it's on the other side of the house. I should keep it closer since my elderly parents might need me in the middle of the night. Think I'll move it tonight.

    .

    Marilyn, if you lock the phone, it won't dial out.

  • pudgeder
    6 years ago

    I use my phone for an alarm clock, so my phone is by my bed at night. The light doesn't stay on -- and I put it face down anyway. No one calls during the sleeping hours, unless it's an emergency.

    I keep my phone w/my at all times. My husband is a Type II diabetic, and he wears a monitoring device that constantly monitors his glucose level. If it drops below a certain point, I get a notification. Literally, it has been a lifesaver.


  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    6 years ago

    Mine is in its charger but close by and never turned off. If I should get a call in the middle of the night, it would be an important one......some sort of family emergency. And because I live alone and am also getting on in years, it is also my lifeline to others.......should I need it to be.

  • eld6161
    6 years ago

    Rob, we still have our land line. If all else fails, our family knows that can call it if DH and I don't answer our cells.

  • rob333 (zone 7b)
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I don't have a landline :(

  • Adella Bedella
    6 years ago

    Our phones are programmed not to make noises during certain hours except for an emergency. We received flood and tornado alerts during the hurricane that woke us up, but normally we don't get those. I use mine as an alarm so I keep it in the room. My notices don't start buzzing until after the alarm goes off in the morning.

  • Michael
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    You can still use your phone as an alarm clock or an alarm even if it's in the basement or attic. Simply connect it to a small bluetooth speaker. I use my phone to create white noise, but the phone is located in guest bedroom (DND mode). Phones are portable for a reason.

  • ldstarr
    6 years ago

    Mine is set to allow our 2 children to ring thru, day or night. I want to be available, especially for our daughter who works all hours of the day and night. Since she's single, we're her "go to" for dead batteries, stuck in snow drift etc. No one else rings thru.

  • matti5
    6 years ago

    At night, both my landline and cell phone are on my nightstand. I am the "caregiver and contact person" of my family and at the moment there are three elderly members who will call me if they are having a medical or emergency issue. My dad is one of them who is recovering from a massive brain bleed. When my FIL was in a dementia care facility a couple years ago, I had to be available 24/7.

  • lindaohnowga
    6 years ago

    My cell phone which I never use except if the power goes out is always in my purse. My portable phone is right by my bed, in case I need it during the night for an emergency. I have portable phones in other rooms too.

  • Olychick
    6 years ago

    My landline works upstairs next to my bed because my daughter in law is in law enforcement and sometimes is called out in the middle of the night, so I go stay with my grandson. She knows that's how to reach me during sleeping hours. My landline is silenced in the main part of the house because I seem to receive mostly robocalls during the day, all day long and I get tired of hearing it ring.

    My cell is wherever I left it; I don't keep track of it except when I'm leaving the house. Usually it's near one of the doors where I've left it when I come home; sometimes in a shopping bag that I used to things in from the car, left wherever I intend to unload it, often it's left IN the car. I need my landline to find my cell oftentimes.

    I never take it to bed with me because I'd never remember to bring it downstairs in the morning, so I'd have to go back upstairs to retrieve it when I wanted to go out somewhere. And the stairs are a bit difficult for me.

  • DawnInCal
    6 years ago

    With a few exceptions, my phone habits have stayed the same as they were when all we had was a landline. It stays in a charging station in the office when not in use during the day and at night. I take it with me when I go out, but it is usually turned off because I do not want whatever activity I'm doing to be interrupted by the phone. If I forget to bring it with me, no big deal. I couldn't bring the landline with me back in the day either. If someone calls, they'll leave a message if it's important.

    I'm lucky in that none of my friends are phone addicts. None of them play with or check their phones constantly when we are out to lunch or shopping or seeing a play or whatever. That drives me bonkers and I think it's so rude.

    What I like about cell phones is the ability to call for assistance if the car breaks down or I get a flat tire - things of that nature. Or, when out running errands, I can call hubby to ask if we need something I see on sale or if he wants anything from the store or if he'd like me to pick up a pizza for dinner. My phone is used as the tool it is and it's not something I have to be connected to 24 hours a day.

    Having said all that, I do not have elderly relatives or children to worry about, which may factor into my telephone habits.

  • Elmer J Fudd
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    We're not emergency responders or on call (like sleeperblues). Some of you who think you need to be available 24/7 may want to be but perhaps don't really need to be.

    Our cell phones, actively used (but with no phone addicts) during daytime hours, spend the night wherever they're left, ringers on Do Not Disturb. The "landline" (really a VOIP service) is on but there's no handset in the bedroom. We have elderly and geographically very dispersed family members but truth is, no one needs to reach either of us ASAP. We get no calls overnight. If there were a familial emergency, our response would wait until the morning in any event.

  • rob333 (zone 7b)
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Guess that's the caveat. If you have children who aren't in your care (school, events, etc.) or elderly parents who need for you to take them to/meet at the hospital, we have to have a way to access us. I dread the day I don't need to be reached by my parents any more. I'm glad I live near them and can still care for them should the need arise. Son is pretty close to self sufficient. Give it until May and we'll be there.

  • PRO
    Anglophilia
    6 years ago

    I'm a dinosaur. I still have a landline and do NOT carry my cell around with me all day! It lives in the basement on a table, next to the door into the basement garage. I had an outlet installed over the table when I got my first cell phone - when I come home, it comes out of my purse and goes on its charger. There it stays until I go out again.

    Getting doctor's offices and my grandsons to remember to call me on my landline FIRST has been a challenge. It was so bad I had to ask my doctor's office to remove my cell number from my records - they just would not pay attention to a note in the file that said "Call home number FIRST!). Grandsons are learning as if they're calling me looking for a ride, they will not get me.

    My son sleeps with his cell next to his bed as he has international clients and his job is crises management. Clients in the Far East are not particularly considerate of the difference in time zones. The fact it is 3AM in CT is irrelevant to them - they want service NOW not in 4 hrs! He doesn't get enough sleep anyway and this makes it worse. If he gets an email, he needs to look and see if he must answer immediately or if it can wait until he gets up at 5AM to catch a 5:50 train into Manhattan. He's only 47 and this is going to kill him someday.

  • lily316
    6 years ago

    I have a landline but no phone in my bedroom. Four phones in the rest of the house. I'm not about to awaken by scammers. My iPhone is on the kitchen table a floor away from me or getting charged there. My parents are dead and I don't have a job so I don't want the phone around me in the seven hours I sleep.

  • Kathsgrdn
    6 years ago

    I turn it off and leave it to charge on my hope chest, on the other side of the bedroom from where I sleep.

  • ravencajun Zone 8b TX
    6 years ago

    Currently where I am staying it is on the dresser in our bedroom charging. Right now we don't want to miss calls because so many people are needing to contact us, insurance companies, contractors, crews etc. The tow truck company called at 7am Saturday morning to come pick up the vehicles.

  • kathyg_in_mi
    6 years ago

    Rob 333, yes, when the day comes you are no longer needed to be there for your parents is a sad day. After 4 years, I no longer have to be available by phone 24/7.

    That is unless my kids need me.

  • rob333 (zone 7b)
    6 years ago

    (((kathy)))

  • donna_loomis
    6 years ago

    My phone is my constant companion, LOL. Other than making and taking phone calls (not very many), it is my datebook/calendar, my encyclopedia, my kitchen timer (can't hear the one on the stove when I am in the sewing room), and many other things, including my alarm clock. So, at night it is on the bedside table waiting to alert me that it is time to get up - just in case Bruno doesn't give me love bites a couple of minutes before the alarm goes off. I swear that cat can tell time.

  • mamapinky0
    6 years ago

    I have sort of a landline yet not. Its a Comcast phone so if the power goes out so does it. I think only the school even knows the number. I use my cell for all my calls and its never apart from me. Any emergency my adult boys would have they would call my cell, if my daughter Amiee needs me and I'm in another part of the house she calls me or if I'm sleeping and she needs me she calls. I also use it for my alarm. I'm not much of a phone talker besides other than my adult boys there's no one to chit chat with. I do use my phone to communicate here on Houzz and I use it to watch Safari Live.

  • User
    6 years ago

    My phone is set up to go into Do Not Disturb mode from 10pm to 6am. The only people whose calls are programmed to go through during that time are my parents and a couple of siblings. My parents are in their 70s and not in good health, and if they need to reach me at 3am I want to hear the phone, which sits in the adjacent master bedroom closet. It's been set up this way for a few years, so far without any overnight interruption. Before that, I'd get the occasional wrong number and would always hear text and email notifications.

  • wildchild2x2
    6 years ago

    On the nightstand charging. If I don't want to be disturbed I mute it. I don't seem to get all these spam calls everyone talks about. Maybe because I don't answer to unknown numbers and they've given up on me. I only give out my cell number to people I know and businesses I deal with locally. When filling out forms I use the landline number. If the phone number is not necessary for a transaction I give out an old disconnected landline number.

  • PKponder TX Z7B
    6 years ago

    My phone drives me bananas and I hate being awakened or disturbed while I'm working unless it's an emergency. I never have it nearby unless I'm in my office or out of the house when it's in my purse. A couple of nights ago, work texted me at 11 pm asking me to log in 3 hours early to handle an outage/maintenance window set for early Sunday morning. I was already in bed and had the phone in the office so I didn't see the message, too bad, not enough notice.

  • Elizabeth
    6 years ago

    My phone is always on even on my nightstand. I do not get telemarketer or business calls during sleeping hours. I am always available by phone for my family. Day or night.

  • aok27502
    6 years ago

    Mine charges overnight in the kitchen. I turn the sound off, because we tend to go to bed early, and have friends and family who think nothing of texting at 11:00pm. We still have a land line, because our cell service is terrible. If someone really needs us, they know how to call.

  • lgmd_gaz
    6 years ago

    Just a month ago I got my very first cell phone, as did DH. At night, it lies on the kitchen counter, just like 90% of the rest of a 24 hour period. When it isn't there, it is an "albatross" hanging around my neck. It's main purpose is for my safety when I am out of the house in the yard or shopping on my handicapped scooter. I hate (!) the thing, but DH insists. Only DH and our daughter have been given the number.

  • OklaMoni
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    watchmelol, really, you give out a number you used to have??? Bet the person that has it now HATES it!

    Moni

  • littlebug zone 5 Missouri
    6 years ago

    Almost always have my cellphone in my pocket. It charges at night at my bedside. DH has very serious health issues and now that he's been able to return to work it's important for me to be readily accessible. Plus we are responsible for his 81 year old aunt who lives closeby.

    I simply turn the sound off when necessary - at church, etc. I forgot to turn the sound back on once, and the alarm didn't wake me up. Oops.

  • Rusty
    6 years ago

    My cell phone is in an Otter Box case (virtually indestructible), and is clipped to my jeans pocket or belt loop from the time I get up in the morning till the time I go to bed at night. Over night it is on the night stand, charging. I live alone, my balance is really bad and I trip easily, plus I have other health problems, too. So keeping the phone always within easy reach makes me feel much safer and gives me self confidence. Honestly, I would feel naked without it! I do NOT talk on it while shopping, visiting with someone, eating a meal, whatever. I consider that the height of rudeness! I do, however, often play games on it while watching TV, providing I am alone. I don't recall it ever waking me up over night.

    I have a landline, but only because I have to have it for broadband Internet. There is an answering machine on it, and the ringer is turned off. I check messages on it, just in case someone calls on it that I need to talk to. But I finally have gotten the word to almost everyone to call my cellphone, not the landline.

    Rusty

  • Elmer J Fudd
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Double check with your phone company, rusty. Ask if they can provide DSL service with no phone line, they call it "dry loop DSL" or "naked DSL". This is available in much of the country.

    There's no technical reason for old style phone service to be active for a given home to provide a DSL signal. The two are independent.

  • Cherryfizz
    6 years ago

    I take my cordless phone into the bedroom with me when I go to sleep mainly for emergency purposes or if I suffer a bout of vertigo and can't get out of bed I can call someone to let the dog out or feed the cat. I have only had to do that one time. If the phone rings, I will wake to see who called and if it is important I will call back, if not I just go back to sleep. Most of my family contact me online through FB or message me on my Ipod so I don't see those messages until I get up.

  • nicole___
    6 years ago

    My landline uses Comcast. We used to get fax calls at night, got one the other night. I should look into programming it to stop incoming calls in the wee hours. Just don't have time.

  • Rusty
    6 years ago

    Thanks, Elmer. I just may do that.

    Rusty

  • cynic
    6 years ago

    My cordless phone is kept on the charger near me. When I'm at home I'm generally wearing shorts these days and I leave the cell in the holster on my jeans. The cell number is only given to a fortunate few and I give them a special ring so I know if they should call. However they're all trained to either call my home number first or call the forwarding number so I can answer it on the landline. My cell is prepaid and it's primary use is emergencies and convenience when I'm out and secondary use is long distance calls. I generally charge the cell when I'm in my vehicle or occasionally when it really needs it I put it on the charger in the house.

    I'm not a phone addict. Phones are a tool for my convenience and benefit. I refuse to become a slave to them. My landline has talking caller ID so if it rings I'll know if I want to talk to them. If it's an out of state area code, it's not answered if I'm trying to sleep (and most of the time not answered if I'm not trying to sleep).

    Occasionally a friend will call when he's working nights since I'm often up at night. If I'm expecting a call, I'll pull the phone off the charger and keep it within easy reach, otherwise, even when it's on the charger I can reach it easily with the grabber.

    I use the phone less and less these days. I used to have a phone in the bathroom but not anymore. If someone calls when I'm on the pot, they'd better call back or leave a message (or both). People know I don't run for the phone. If I'm out getting the mail, in the bathroom, busy with something, etc, I don't answer the phone. I have my priorities and a phone is not high on the priority list.

    Love the surgically removed usb port line! Keeping that in mind.