Serendipity And Smartphones

A reader writes:

I actually find that I do more serendipitous wandering now, since I now know that whenever I get tired, bored, or just really, really lost, I can always open my phone and get back to wherever I was supposed to be. That frees me to wander even further and longer down the strange and fascinating roads less traveled. Much recommended...

Another writes:

I honestly have never met someone who felt the same as I regarding telephones. I'm 25 years old, and have never paid for home phone service. I carry a cell phone for the same reasons as everyone else (well, not the more obsessive reasons), and that simply acts as my home phone. Like you, I rarely answer it. I don't even keep the ringer on.

I just let calls go to voicemail and return them if they warrant it (most of the time, they don't). Only once or twice a month do I actually answer it when it rings, and that is specifically because I'm expecting the call. The calls ARE life interruptions, you are precisely right! Yet I'm miffed that more people don't at least understand the philosophy. Instead, people are shocked that I might not answer by choice. Shocked! My family and less close friends (the neurotic unending conversations with no direct purpose you mentioned), are always cracking jokes about how I don't pick up my phone as if its some kind of grotesque social defect. Thank you for opining on this subject. Like Glenn Beck's audience, you are not alone.