I am of two minds when it comes to funny voice ringtones, none of which I currently have on my personal cell phone but many of which I have previewed on the internet. On one hand, if it is my own cell phone I would probably be delighted to hear my favourite celebrity inform me that I have an incoming call. On the other hand, if it was someone else’s phone, even with the same celebrity or comical quip, I’d probably be annoyed. Why, you might ask? I know it is a double standard, but we love when we are great and hate when other people exhibit the same level of greatness.
Plus, what happened to the standard ringtone? It did pretty fine and dandy before cell phones came along. It is still doing fine and dandy on most home phones, too. But I don’t think I have ever heard that standard, completely recognizable ring, ring, ring ever coming from a cell phone (with the possible exception of in the movies, but that doesn’t count because it is not real life and the plot is not supposed to be hindered by distracting ringtones anyway so they use the standard – unless the ringtone is a song that revels the killer or something of that nature).
I mean, who (besides those who detest television) won’t get a kick out of hearing someone like Stan Smith, Homer Simpson or Peter Griffin just out of the blue with a witty line? I wish I heard those voices more often instead of just hearing their jokes in referential context. Remembering what happened on the last episode while waiting for a bus can make you laugh in the middle of the day, but hearing as it was first said it will be that much better and make you that much happier.
So the basic idea when it comes to funny voice or celebrity ringtones is that they are good for a chuckle most of the time, but beware the period when they become annoying. It will happen – you can only hear the same joke so many times. Maybe it will not happen to you first, but maybe the annoying factor will happen to someone that you spend a lot of time with. If your phone keeps “mysteriously” turning its self to vibrate when you aren’t looking, it’s time to change your ringtone.
