Cell phone ring tones these days seem to range from annoying to immitigable or amusing. When your cell phone accidentally rings in a public place, such as during an university lecture hall, it is either greeted with groans or laughter depending on which category it falls under.
I was once sitting in a history lecture. This was the day after watching Charles Ross in live enactment “One Man Star Wars” which had been viewed by many of my classmates. Somewhere near the middle of the lecture, a tone started to play in the backpack of the boy sitting in the row behind me. The tune: one if many original trilogy theme songs from Star Wars. Needless to say, the class was impressed and the teacher laughed it off.
These types of cell phone ring tones lead to people allowing their telephones to ring: either I could listen to the chorus to “Take Me or Leave Me” from Rent, or I could answer the telephone and take my chances on what I will hear. Meanwhile, the person on the other end of the line is waiting indefinitely: if it is your mother, she is having illusions of you being dead or injured so that you cannot answer your telephone. If it is a boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse, he or she thinks you are in the middle of something you shouldn’t be doing. Maybe having that awesome ring tone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
However, when a cell phone goes off and the air is filled with a monophonic scramble comparable to a warning alarm, that phone is either answered or silenced as soon as humanly possible to avoid embarrassment – no matter if the owner is in a public place or all alone. It is as though the phone is screaming, “Warning: Not answering your phone will lead one way or another to insanity. Please kindly answer the phone and talk to whoever has taken the time to call and ask you what you are doing at the current moment.” In any case, an annoying ring tone ensures that the phone gets answer promptly, so the aforementioned mother doesn’t have nightmares about her poor child lying in an undisclosed area defenceless and your significant other can think no wrong of you.
Each type of ring tones has its ups and downs – which way do you want to go?
