[gondramB]

The way i deal with xcessive phone callers is to

1. Use voice mail. Get people in the habit of being called right back if I am available.

2. Encourage email use for non urgent matters.

[randog]

As a publicist at Pace University in Pleasantville, N.Y., Cara Halstead Cea must be available by cellphone around the clock.

And yet the guy that fries her french fries at McDonald's gets 16 hours a day + 2 full days a week that he isn't at his employer's beck-and-call. So who's the slave?

[Redbob]

What, there's a class for people too stupid to turn their cell phones off?

[kpp_kpp]

"They get called in the middle of the night. The phone is always ringing about minute issues. They ask me, 'How do we deal with that?' "

there's this button, on mine it is right on top, that if you depress it for a second or two it shuts the thing right off. amazing invention.

much more convenient than going and yanking every phone in the house out of the wall.

my wife doesn't appreciate my use of that feature nor does she seem to know how to operate the off button on her's -- but i wouldn't have one w/o it.

[Serb5150]

I deal with it by not having a cell phone.

[Xenalyte]

"Most of the complaints are about how it intrudes on their home life," says Ms. Mandel, of Lawrence, N.Y. "They get called in the middle of the night. The phone is always ringing about minute issues. They ask me, 'How do we deal with that?' "

Here, I can explain it in very short words, so everyone will understand.

You turn it off.

There. Easy!

[Xenalyte]

That lack of attention, whatever the reason, can have serious consequences. Nippert-Eng points to out-of-control children on reality shows such as "Supernanny" and "Nanny 911" as warning signs. "Children are starting to engage in very destructive behaviors to demand parents' attention," she says.

Those shows must be edited all to hell. I have never seen a cell phone on one.

What I have seen is an abundance of parents who refuse to discipline their children.

[Sonny M]

I have 2 cell phones and a pager.

I also have the common sense God gave a screwdriver to turn them off when I don't want to be bothered.

Their is a reason for voicemail.

I also thank the good lord I'm not like one idiot I know who is afraid to go places if the cell phone reception is bad because he might miss a call.