Do You Keep Your Phone on Silent Mode outside Your Work Hours?

Do you keep your phone on silent mode? and if so why?
I have recently noticed many friends and family keep their phones on silent, even on the weekend and outside working hours.
Its just become a habit?

Poll Options

  • 888
    Yes
  • 127
    No

Comments

  • +1

    With an apple watch that alerts me to calls, I find I don't need it to ring, so prefer it on silent.

  • Only family calls ring though, Everyone else can leave a voicemail, 24/7

  • +5

    I just keep my phone off all the time. Then when I need to make a call I switch it on, however by the time it boots up I forget who I wanted to call, so I just switch it off again. I never have any interruptions. Sometimes I just leave my switched off phone at home. I don't really care anymore if people can't get a hold of me… I know where I am and what I am doing, so it should be nobody else's business to know this information.

    • So sounds like you used to care, now you're an old hermit?

  • +1

    as with others, almost always on silent, if it is important they will leave a message. To many spam/scam/charity/political BS/research survey callers.

  • -1

    I have mine set up that if family (wife or daughter) ring, it rings (frog croaking noise) aloud, for anyone else, it’s silent/vibrate.

    • Are you saying that your family is amphibious?

  • +5

    What kind of sociopath ever has their mobile on loud?
    Vibrate or dnd for life…

  • Silent with vibrate only - loud ring tones should be left in the 90s and early 2000s.

  • +1

    Ive had mine on silent with vibrate for years. There's enough noise and clanging in the world as it is without adding to the cacophony.

  • +1

    I even put it on airplane mode

  • +1

    Mine is on silent 100% of the time, I only take it off if I'm at home and expecting a call I don't want to miss.

  • my phone has been on silent 24/7 since my phone was a sony-ericsson t68 - before that my phone was a landline.

  • Completely silent, no vibration ever.
    Like many here, I don’t take much calls these days and people I communicate to will send texts/e-mails. If I’m expecting a call, then I briefly switch Silent mode off then turn it on again after I’m done.
    It has been like this for years.

  • +12

    Mines on full blast but nobody ever calls me :-(

  • +1

    Mine is on silent (vibrate) all the time connected to my fitbit. So if I don't feel my phone, my watch goes off. Very handy.

  • My phone is always on Do Not Disturb except for calls (vibrate).

  • +2

    After work hours It's on vibrate unless it's super important. I'm not on my phone constantly or have a smart watch to keep it on silent

  • I keep mine on silent out of respect for others.

  • Have three phones, one on vibrate and the two are usually on ringing. (The benefits of work from home) .
    I shut off the phones at night.

    At work, usually the phones are on vibrate and visible on the desk, so I know if a call comes.

    Most used phone is Pixel 4XL ( used for everything when not in front of laptop), and least used is iPhone 12 Pro (work phone). Pixel 2XL is for calls, and since the support ended, would not do any transactions on it.

  • Mines do not disturb 9pm to 7am. Silent 7am to 4pm and loud from 4pm to 9pm. Pretty easy to set up with tasker.

  • Yeah, not allowed phones at work. So its on dead silent, people leave messages and I call them back at a break.

    I should have an ifttt trigger that turns it on and off but I'm too lazy.

  • +3

    Silent? Pfft amateurs.
    I remove the battery and throw it away.

    • +1

      Good plan. There's still residual power in the capacitors tho, and it can be energised by the microwaves so I also keep it in a biscuit tin, or a chip packet if I need to go out.

      • Hmmm do you also line that tin or chip packet with lead like I do?

        Cant be too sure.

        God forbid your phone rings and you're deemed a Boomer or Karen!

    • +3

      A removable battery? What a novel idea!

      • +2

        All batteries are removable…. It merely depends on how far you're willing to go to remove them.

  • I run a small business and advertise etc have had to have mine on DND outside of hours for years as I just had my mobile number on all my advertising. Recently got a 1300 number which stops the pests from sending text messages and prevents after hours calls all together which is a godsend and now only advertise that number.

    You'd be surprised how many morons think because they want you to do a job for them and have your mobile you apparently become their best friend and can call and text you at whatever hour they please. I had to tell a guy last week its not ok to text people at 2am in the morning and to leave it to business hours if he wants to call or text.

    • "its not ok to text people at 2am in the morning "

      ??. That would surely only be a problem if you have a very load or long notification sound. A text is something I would send if I didn't want to disturb someone with a phone call, but merely wanted to send a message they could get and respond to at their leisure.

      • +2

        Then send an email that likely isnt going to light up someones phone and potentially play a loud obnoxious sound while people are sleeping.

        Some people are light sleepers, have kids in their bed etc, you dont know everyones situation. If you send a text at that time of night just because it suits you you're a pest.

        • +2

          Highly recommend you enable DND and then it won't matter when people message you. Emails will also trigger a push notification and audible tone on most devices so it's no different to SMS… and in my experience people are less likely to either ignore or partially read a SMS.

          • @ctg: If you haven't got the message by now mate your clearly not going to get it.

            I'll give you a call at 3am to explain. Remember if your phone happens to be off DND and I wake you/your wife/sleeping baby/special needs child etc its your fault not mine ok.

            • @immortalbjr: My DND is set to automatically turn on and off. I often browse gumtree or whatever the night before and send people messages there, it's not my fault if they have their notifications left on to annoy them all night.

  • +5

    What does it matter what others do with their phone?

    You do what works for you

    • You sound like fun.

      • +2

        Fun? Dunno. It just makes sense.

      • +2

        He does, you don't.

  • Thanks to Mr Modi I have no other choice.
    But if you watch Kitboga on youtube you can see the ACMA is finally going to do something about but this forum has locked me out for speaking the truth no nuff said!

  • Yes and also during work hours. I use my smart watch to vibrate when there's a message etc. Set to DND at night.

  • I'm silent, I just don't answer.

  • I rarely have my phone on vibrate or on and audible ringtone. The only time I do is if I know someone important will ring or if I'm out and about with family and we device to separate.

  • My personal phone is also my work phone so I can't just put it on silent otherwise i'd be turning it off if its just work. I just ignore outside of business hours unless its personal. I have DND mode scheduled between 9pm-7am

  • I haven't used a ringtone since 2012.

    Vibrate always coupled with my Samsung galaxy watch.

  • On the contrary, I usually turn it on during work hours, but put it on silent when I am at home. However, recently, I have been missing calls from my SO, so I started to increase my ringtone volume just little bit.

  • +1

    I honestly couldn't even tell you what my message or ring tone sounds like.

    99.99% of the time my phone is on silent.

    • +1

      Agreed. I accidentally switched my sound on this weekend and was amazed by my SMS notification sound

  • My 2 cents. I have my phone on silent and no vibration. I've found that even the vibration is annoying when the phone is on a hard surface.

    Instead, I get vibration notifications on my apple watch. The watch is on silent also. So no one can tell if I'm getting a notification (although I do look at my wrist a bit more). I've also minimised what notifications I get on my watch.

    I do miss the odd call when my watch is flat or I've taken it off, but as others have said if it's important they will leave a message.

  • Mine is on silent, the only time I hear my awesome Streetfighter 2 ring tone is if I ask Google to find my phone.

    Also have Gameboy notification sound loaded but again don't hear it.

  • Not only do I run my own business (and calls are money), I am also the ICT manager of large organization and as such want to be contactable outside of hours, as any outage is extremely costly (like $50 - 100k per hour costly) so they make up for it in extra pay etc, I figure my phone is on anyway so why not.

    I tell my team to turn their work phone off though, unless at work/on call, they don't need to take work home any more than they do.

    • How does this work? You're running your own business talking personal business phone calls while at work for another organization?

      • My business is varied, I excuse myself and take the call, schedule the work to be done after hours. I treat it the same as a personal call. I don't have too many clients who ring, most email through thankfully. But also, the larger organization are very open and amenable, as long as I'm doing my job and things are happening to the expected level.

        • I guarantee you no big organisation would be happy with you running a private business during work time. More likely they are just unaware. If I discovered one of my staff doing this they would be sacked.

          • @lunchbox99: And I can guarantee my actions are approved and within bounds.
            As stated, not running a business, not performing business work, so as far as my co-workers would know I got a phone call, no difference to your mum ringing me the day after.

            Trust your employees. If they are stealing time and resources, certainly. If they have a side business that doesn't impact with their work here, why would I give a shit. (Hint I don't)

  • +2

    A mobile gives you the ability but not the obligation to be contactable anytime.
    I leave mine on vibrate most of the time, except when I'm expecting an important call.

  • +1

    I keep my phone on silent 24/7.

  • My phone is on silent 24/7 and if its accidentally not on silent I dont even react when it's ringing. Was a habit I started probably nearly 20years ago when I worked in an office and used to text my girlfriend at the time allday.my message tone going off constantly made it obvious I was distracted and was incredibly annoying.

    These days i like all sound muted. Only leave vibrate on and my phone goes to do no disturb mode from 10pm til 5am i think it is

  • +1

    Vibrate only for me, with do not disturb from 10pm to 7am. And even at that, I'll generally not answer the phone unless it's a known number.

    Everyone else can leave a message which is more or less just the "ATO" or "Amazon" telling me I'll get fined if I don't provide all my information.

  • +1

    I am 99% on silent but at times I put it on ringer mode only to freak out after hearing the ringtone and change it back to silent.

  • I never have my ringtone on, so it doesn't bother others in public, except for my work phone which may require urgent calls.

  • I always have my ring or message tone on, but have blocked notifications from making any sounds related to apps. I work in a large shed and don't carry my phone in my pocket in case of breaking it and usually if its going off I need to answer it.

  • +1

    I still look at my phone as a device I use to call others. I don't view myself as "always contactable", and am perfectly fine leaving a message if the person I call doesn't answer.

    I'm happy going out without a phone sometimes, and consciously avoid pulling it out every time I'm waiting (in queues, restaurants etc). I read something once that resonated with me about how the pervasion of mobile devices into our every spare moment is costing us all reflective thinking time, which is how most of the great solutions to life's problems are discovered.

    I don't ever want to get to the point where I feel like I'm dependant on my phone, but I'm old school.

    • +1

      Agree - I came to this realisation after I got a Garmin watch and tried the phone connection feature and very soon after, turned that feature off. I hated the feeling of something being strapped to me that was like tapping me on the wrist every time someone else wanted me.

      But I do usually keep my phone with me with the sound on - but it’s a mindset thing.

      I might have a call come through, but if it’s not convenient to me I’ll just cancel with the text option that says I’m busy and will call them later. If people get upset about that, that’s on them. I don’t feel pressure to answer when I can’t or don’t want to, and I don’t expect anything different from others. Whether or not I have my phone on ring etc makes no difference.

  • I keep mine on silent unless I am expecting a specific call back. I have a Fitbit so most calls during the day vibrate in my wrist and the person / number is displayed.

  • +1

    Wow! I’m really surprised of all the people that have their phone on silent so much!

    I get annoyed when I forget to take mine off silent after a meeting or something and miss calls… now I have to call people back, find the right person (if it’s a business), they try to remember what it was about etc… takes twice as long.

    It’s like people that don’t answer private numbers… this makes me laugh too because it’s a real fear people seem to have developed. When there were only landlines, every call was a private number and no one was worried. It’s like people have forgotten that they can say “no”, there is a hang up button and no one can touch you through the phone. I feel bad for people that live in fear of something so innocuous.

    • You could still get call ID on landlines but you never had as many nuisance/marketing calls back then either. That said, I do agree with what you're saying in that you can just hang up, don't need to be polite as such.
      Many of the marketing/scam calls aren't a private number these days anyway. I just won't answer the call if it's a number I don't know or aren't expecting someone to call. If it's important, they'll leave a message. If there's no message then I haven't wasted any time on it.

  • Mines on airplane mode, all the time.

  • Have my (ring)tone on normal volume unless in an active SMS convo. Vibration only during meetings and in the cinemas or other social event, but I don't see why you'd have it on silent unless it was always on your person, or you don't care for having a conversation in real time.

    If anything, I have the phone on silent during the work hours and normal volume when I leave work. Mates are the same. My phone often gets thrown down on the bench or shelf when I get home.

    Wind-down and auto silence mode kick in on the phone so doesn't even vibrate when I'm meant to be sleeping.

    Would be interesting to graph respondent age and nature of work.

  • I wish the woman next to me at work would put her phone on silent. It’s always ringing with some emergency from her adult son who needs $5 but she’s left the phone on her desk or in her bag and he will legit keep calling until she answers so I have to put her phone on silent so everyone in the office doesn’t go insane. Meanwhile, the microwave keeps beeping because she put her cold coffee in there to reheat and then left the room for an hour…

  • +1

    I have politely declined the suggestion that I combine my work and personal phones for just this reason.

    My work phone is off outside of business hours except by prior arrangement.

  • Vibrate only and dont look at it very often. use a smart band for messages from certain apps, sms and calls to go check the phone.

  • Habit. My mum used to text me non stop that it drove me crazy, so I put it on silent. Then it stays that way until now. But I check my phone very often anyway.

  • +2

    DND 24/7

  • Silent w/ vibrate. Have done this for years, even before I got a smartwatch.
    I just am not a fan of noise. I'm quite happy sitting in silence.

    Now I have a smartwatch, it helps me not miss things anyway as I can feel it vibrate on my wrist.

  • Work and personal phone are on silent (vibrate) 99.999999999999999% of the time. Cant remember the last time I've heard my ring tone.

  • 9.30PM to 6.30AM DND
    8.30AM to 4.30PM Silent mode (Office hours)[Login to system and before checking emails logon to OZB, Messages & whatsapp in an browser]

    Phone notifications on from

    6.30AM to 8.30 AM
    4.30PM to 9.30 PM

    All set in google profile so no need to unmute and mute while or after driving to work and back.

  • So my phone doesn't interrupt me. When I have time I'll check it.

  • My phone is silent unless i'm expecting a call outside of work. When I sleep it's on DND but loud ring for contacts in my phonebook.

  • No one but you needs to know your phone is ringing, vibrate mode does the job.

  • I put my phone on silent when I go to bed and night, or if I'm going to have a nap. Other than that, it's never on silent. If someone calls me, I don't want to miss the call.

  • -2

    so to summarise my 5 second scan of this thread - only old people have ring tones … ?

  • I literally never have my phone on anything other than silent/vibrate. Never. Not for one second.

    I always have a smart watch on which is how I get my notifications and calls/message etc.

  • I always have it on silent primarily because i also wear an Apple watch which means I never miss any notifications.

  • Yes phone is always silent.
    I check all my mobile phone alerts on my watch and then go to my phone if I need to respond

  • +1

    My phone is never on silent to begin with. Only on DnD 10pm-6am

    • +1

      Same

  • I have a separate work phone that I keep on my desk on silent outside of working hours. Personal phone runs on silent too or maybe vibrate if I am expecting my partner to ping me.

  • my phone is always set to vibrate, and my smartwatch vibrates when I get a call.

    I just had to do this because the amount of spam calls coming through (10 - 12 a day sometimes) just means I gave up answering my phone unless I could recognise the caller, the need to have it ring just went away.

  • +1

    Yes it's on silent 90% of the time. I only turn the sound on if I'm expecting messages or a call while I'm out and about.
    I don't like my phone to tell me when to look at it. I will see those messages/notifications when I next look at my phone in my own time.

  • +1

    Silent DND outside of work. My time is my time.

  • +1

    Primarily because I don't like people

  • Mine's on vibrate most of the time, I'll turn it off vibrate/silent when I'm expecting an important call and I'm not anywhere that would be disruptive to others.

  • Silent/vibrate 24/7.
    A recent study showed only primates use ringtones.

  • Silent always unless expecting a call. Also don’t pick up unknown numbers before googling them. Most of the time those numbers are spam.
    Never answer private calls. I respect their privacy by not picking up the call.

  • that's why you need a smart watch so you can get a vibration when msg received our phone call

  • +1

    Heavy machinery operator here.

    If my phone is anywhere but zipped inside my bag, completely shut off, I'll be using it to Google the nearest Centrelink office.

    It's amazing how many of my co-workers - all of us highly paid with great benefits - jeopardise everything just to check a Facebook meme or the latest OzBargain post.

  • +1

    Mines always on silent, and I still check it before the movie starts.

  • +1

    I once had a boss who didn't know that you could silence calls with the lock button and he would literally talk to clients/stakeholders over his blaring ringtone, unfazed :')
    The fool was too arrogant to listen to me tell him it didn't put them straight to voicemail, so we just let him do it from then on.

  • When I had my Blackberry, I had contacts in groups. You could also have groups silenced at specific times, and also your entire phone silenced according to calendar appointments.

    It also had a one tap silent mode, that you could easily adjust.

    Waiting for these to be implemented again in ios/android.

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