The feature I’m enjoying most in IOS 13 is call blocking…

I work on a simple premise.

If you’re a professional person and you get someone’s voicemail, You leave a voice mail. A professional says who they are, who they represent, and leaves a call back number and extension. It’s a simple equation, it worked for decades before we had cellphones. 

The same goes for someone who knows me. If you have legitimate business either as a friend or in a professional capacity you’ll leave a message.

So with IOS 13 I have the ability to route anyone and everyone that I don’t know directly to voicemail. With the flip of a single switch I have silence in my home. 

The phone lets me know that a call came in and was sent to voicemail, but if the caller didn’t bother to actually leave a message I don’t give a shit.

If I do know you, and you’re calling from a number that I have associated with you, the phone rings you right on through. This is the single feature in IOS 13 that I’m most pleased with.

Unfortunately due to my job search and my recent mistake with the insurance quote (Read about it here) my phone number has gotten a little too public. In the days leading up to the release of IOS 13 my phone was ringing off the hook (An outdated phase) and every single call was someone trying to sell me something in the breathless rapid fire staccato of a used car salesman.

In the case of the Job search it’s usually someone mumbling in terrible English from Mumbai. In their case, it’s about a great opportunity for a one month contract on the other side of the country that must be filled immediately. Usually the mumbler has no idea that three people from other, “Fastest Growing Job Placement firms” before them have called with the exact same “Fantastic” opportunity that pays 9.99 an hour.

Don’t take that the wrong way, 9.99 an hour is income, but that wouldn’t come close to paying for the hotel room for a one month contract, and wouldn’t cover the health insurance or car rental. You may be thinking well, you wouldn’t need a car if you stayed in walking distance of the job site. That thought, is 100% true, and I’d love to walk to work.

Until you consider that most Hotels close to business centers are 199.00 or more a night so you have to think about either living in a no-tell motel that rents by the hour or you’re going to be well away from the business center you’re working in. Buses or subways might work but generally speaking mass transit in the country often isn’t an option. 

And lets not forget about the plane fare leaving today from LAX with no advance purchase, to say Connecticut. That ALONE could change the job situation into one where you’re essentially paying the employer to go work for them.

I like that I’m not having to give a geography lesson to mumblers who have no idea where I am in relation to where they’re trying to shoe-horn me. 

That single switch is a great filter. Someone not leaving a voice mail says they’re not legitimate. Whatever they’re selling is bullshit.

The phone still logs all the calls and shows you the number, and where possible, the originating city. Albeit the originating city has become almost worthless because SPAMMERs often fake out the phone system to look like they’re coming from a city local to you.

Eliminating the Phone SPAM is bliss.

I have no doubt that the SPAMMERs will change their tactics. They’ll start leaving voice mail like professionals. But that little switch allows me to once again have control over my life and phone. I’m not having to wonder if the next call I answer is legitimate or bullshit.

Perhaps in it’s way, that little switch will force some professionalism back into our society. Perhaps that switch will bring back a little courtesy and decorum in our expectations when we make a phone call. 

Imagine the effect it’s going to have on the election cycle. No more dumbassed surveys or polls. Who knows, it might even reduce the need for new phone numbers. After all if businesses start calling from one phone number instead of 20 different numbers we might actually answer the call because we recognize the business as someone we actually deal with.

Time will tell, but now I’m not thinking about changing my phone number after I get a new job.

So if you call me and get routed to voicemail, leave a message. I’ll call you back when I have a minute.