What's a "Push Notification"?

I wish I didn't know. But soon after I got my smart iPhone, I found out the hard way.  I began receiving loud signals, bells and whistles when emails or texts arrived.  Worse yet, I mistakenly or inadvertently signed up for notifications of important news (or more mundane announcements of items on sale) from websites and "apps", and those notifications also came announced by piercing noises which almost "pushed" me over the edge!

Made For Phone Calls!

Between checking on emails, websites and social media, it seems like no one really places calls anymore, do they? Instead, they only text in the seconds available in between all those other distractions! Well, originally I noticed that my children and most younger children, in general, avoided talking face-to-face or on the phone in favor of texting. Then, it seemed even older folks like me got trapped into this new, wretched communication habit. We completely forgot that phones were made for phone calls! I'd say to myself, "I wish more people would just call me!"

Who Are All These Callers?

At first, I just ignored any calls from parties unknown. Or, I just pressed the side button on my phone that made all the ringing in my ears go away. Mostly, the callers had 800 or 866 or 877 numbers, but many had unusual area codes like 268, 284, 809 and 876. I really didn't care, I just let them go to voicemail never-never land. I didn't pay much attention to them. That is, until my personal circumstances took an unexpected turn.

So I Placed Myself on the

I had heard this was the way to finally silence the unwanted callers. After all, they would suffer legal liability if they ignored the "Do Not Call" list. That was good enough peace of mind for me, as an attorney.

But a Not-So-Funny Thing Happened:

I thought, how is that possible? Why is this call avalanche burying me? And, how can I stop it?

The Law Doesn't Matter

Apparently, new phone system technologies and software not only facilitate cheap, high-volume calling (thousands in a second at very little cost), but allow the callers to operate from anywhere, including overseas (apparently they love the Caribbean and I can't blame them!), and to display fake caller ID information (including making their number appear local or that of a legitimate business or government agency). The U.S. National Do Not Call Registry has little deterrent effect on these clever scammers!

There Is No Perfect Solution

1. Do not answer calls from unknown numbers. If you answer and then hang up, the calling party will know they have reached a real number and that you are likely to respond, which will only encourage them to call back! The same will happen if you answer and press a designated number to "opt out" of future calls! The main problem with this approach is you may miss important calls (like I feared with regard to Mom). And, as I also learned the hard way, letting a call go to voicemail just indicates to the caller they've reached an active number and you'll be targeted you for a call back. So you have to do more.

Laws May Change,

There are number of federal and state legislative proposals to crack down further on unwanted and often illegitimate phone calls. Unfortunately, the scammers will always try to adapt as quickly as new laws are enacted. Oh well, we'll just have to react again, in response, when that happens.