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nonightowl · 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Travelinglady

It's hard to talk to a person any more, it seems. I've found (not intentionally) that if I hit the wrong buttons they'll connect me to a person pronto.

I sure remember the days of operator and party lines and phone booths, etc. I still keep my land line, too, with no problems. I use that more than my smart phone.

I've also found if I press the wrong key I get routed to a human. Sometimes the menu doesn't have what I'm calling about so I say nothing. Most of the time it will connect me to a human but sometimes it says "That is not a valid option" and hangs up on me.

I hate it when they don't give keypad options but voice recognition only. By that I mean you have to say what you're calling about, rather than pressing 1 to pay my bill just as an example. Sometimes it doesn't understand me. And the overly perky digital voices irritate me.

People have asked me "Why do you still have a landline?"

Like you I use it more than my smartphone, because it always has a clear connection and doesn't drop calls. I use my cell only for calls out of my area or when out and about, and HAVE to make a call that can't wait till I get home. If I can wait, I wait.

I tried to call an toll-free number from home and it said "This call can't be completed as dialed". But it worked on my cell.

Quote:

Originally Posted by downandlonely

About the kids thing, a baby boomer told me it was selfish not to have kids. But my whole life, I had to listen to my mom telling me that none of us were wanted by her. She got married and had kids because she was expected to. I grew up wishing she had given me up for adoption to a mother who wanted kids.

I decided not to have biological children before puberty when I learned about all the mental illness in my family. I've never had a desire to pass on those genes. I had planned to adopt as a single mother, but now think I do not have the mental stability for that. I volunteer with children.

My middle brother is so disabled that he cannot even take care of himself, and the youngest seems to not want children (he is 34). It's not too late for him, I suppose. But I think it's likely that my parents will not have grandchildren.

I see all sorts of crappy and abusive parents as well as people who cannot even take care of themselves trying to conceive. I know there's no point in trying to talk people out of having children if they are dead set on it, but I really think people who can't take even take care of themselves or who don't want children shouldn't have them.

That's awful, Downandlonely.

WTF? TELLING your kids that???

And climate change or not, I wouldn't want to bring kids into this world. It's getting more and more troubled, just think what kind of planet they will be living on.

I don't get the comment about it being "selfish" not to have kids.

Just who does that person think you have an obligation to anyway???

It "only" took me 6 decades to come to this theory, but I believe my parents became parents because that's what you did in those days.

It was more of a culture of conformity then. Now having kids isn't pushed as much but we're still a family-oriented culture. I've never had a maternal instinct or wish to be a parent. It seems like so much trouble.

In hindsight, I think my own parents weren't mature enough or had the right temperament to be parents. It seems they passed on their own family's dysfunctional dynamics and I don't want to pass that on.

You're right that if they can't take care of themselves or truly want kids (and really know what that entails), they shouldn't have them. They need to be financially, mentally, and emotionally stable enough to do it. I've done a lot of research on family dynamics and generational differences. It seems my parents were still children in adults' bodies, that they never really matured themselves. Or had a lot missing in their own childhoods, so poor role models.

I'm not saying they intentionally created a dysfunctional family but they did it nonetheless. I doubt if they were even aware of it, being that they always thought they were right about everything and other parents are inferior to them.