[jgrahamc]

I find these 'sharing' apps (like FourSquare and this) fascinating because they are the complete opposite of what I want. I have no desire to tell people where I am or what I am doing.

For example, I feel that a sharing app that let's people know "Ah. John's not answering the phone because he's in the middle of a meeting with Mr F Barbaz" is the wrong way to deal with others. There's no need for people to have that information, and there's no need for me to explain to people why I am not answering. I am simply not available.

I wrote, somewhat tangentially, about the need for a new 'not available' social norm in a piece about long haul flights: http://blog.jgc.org/2010/06/archive-of-my-newstilt-stories.h...

To me these sharing status apps are a sign of an unhealthy idea that people are always available unless they come up with some good reason not to be. The only people who might actually need to know where I am because of some emergency are few in number (my parents, my spouse, my boss) and they can always SMS me a '911' text message.

PS None of that should be seen as a criticism of this person's app or work. There may be a large market for this which simply excludes me.

PPS It's worth thinking through what are the 'acceptable' reasons for not answering a call. In a meeting? On the toilet? Thinking? Writing code? Staring out the window letting your mind wander? And who makes that judgement. To me the simplest solution is to not answer when I don't want to and not be accountable to others for why I did not answer.

[thaumaturgy]

You and me both, man. This is one of those aspects of society -- and it does seem to be pretty ubiquitous at this point -- that I just don't get. It makes me feel weirdly out of sync.

I've been putting extra effort lately into putting up lots of boundaries. I carry my cell phone a lot less. I'm slower to return calls. My email replies are brief and sporadic. It's really nice.

I see people spending a lot of time alternating between Facebook and email and texting on their phone, and ... I'm not sure if I've gone crazy, or everyone else has.

The idea behind this app, cool as it is technically, makes me a little bit sick to my stomach.

[indiecore]

>I'm not sure if I've gone crazy, or everyone else has.

Welcome to Old.

[vijayr]

Agree. The default expectation today in society is "I contacted that person, he/she should respond" instead of "I contacted that person, he/she will respond if needed" (of course, there are exceptions like emergency calls, family etc). Why would I want to know who is in a meeting with who, and if they are available or not? Why would I want others to know what I am upto? This totally escapes me

[friggeri]

This is the main reason why I went the other way round when developing Tehula[1]. The basic idea is that knowing the location of someone should be the exception and not the norm, and that the burden should be put on the one requesting the location and not the locatee (who should have the right to ignore a request too).

[1]:http://tehula.com

[tomasien]

I think it comes from thinking about "what do I want" problem the wrong way. "What do I want" isn't "What would I like the world to be like for me" it's "what would I like to use in the world as it actually exists"

My hypothesis is that apps that aren't about sharing what you're DOING but rather what you'd like to do, especially in the short term, will ultimately be more useful. I don't want people to know what I'm doing or where I am, but I might like them to know where I'd like to be, with them, later tonight.

[louischatriot]

I agree with this. I don't like the way we always need to have an excuse for not answering the phone. Sometimes it is because I'm busy coding. Some other times I may just not feel like answering the phone, and I think that's fine too. I'll call you back eventually, don't worry.

As John says, no criticism of the app itself, rather a rant about the you-should-be-available-everywhere-and-anytime mentality!

[mehulkar]

Not sure if it's just me, but I don't really make phone calls to anyone except parents and a few other family members. With everyone else, friends and work related, I prefer to skype-- usually a scheduled time, but sometimes impromptu. On the flip side, I don't get that many phone calls either. Most other types of communication is asynchronous.

[brador]

> there's no need for me to explain to people why I am not answering.

To give them an idea of how long to wait before trying again. It's consideration for the time of others.

[jgrahamc]

That's why we have voicemail. If I'm not available leave me a message.

[iamdave]

I could talk for hours about the times I've been legitimately unable to take a call and had people repeatedly call my desk/mobile phone and either (A) refuse to leave a voicemail, thinking calling back repeatedly for 20 minutes would work or (B) filled my voicemail to capacity with multiple messages throughout the day.

Hours.

[guiambros]

Cancel your desk phone, and train your friends/colleagues to use voice mail or SMS. And try to use a voice-to-text service like Google Voice, so you get an email when they leave you a message.

Seriously, it's highly productive. At least it was for me.. It's their interest to reach you, that's why they are calling you and not the other way around.

[thaumaturgy]

That is a social disease.

[brador]

How does the caller know if you're the type to use voicemail? (I never check mine, if it's urgent you would have called back) How often will you check your voicemail, if at all? Hourly? Once a day? Maybe the call is semi urgent, it can wait an hour but not a day.

Key point: knowing why you're not taking the call is valuable information to the caller.

[anthonyb]

Send an email? Most voicemail systems will have a little flashing light on top when you have a message waiting.

If I'm trying to write a tricky piece of code and you keep calling me, a) I will be annoyed and b) my mobile will go off, my email client will go off and the land line will be unplugged from the wall.

What are you going to do now? Put on a gorilla suit and come jump up and down on my desk? Learn some class.

[jgrahamc]

You are correct that that information is valuable to the caller.

To me that's, in general, not an acceptable information flow. It's a side channel that reveals information that I don't think people in general need to have.