I’ve always said it: I simply hate talking on the phone. Always have. Heck, even my outgoing voicemail says “Hi, don’t leave me a voice mail.” I am so much better at texting and emailing than I ever could be at talking on the phone, which is ironic, since I speak for a living!
Then, out of the blue, I had an epiphany. It’s not that I hate talking on the phone. It’s that I hate BEING on the phone! And that, my friends, is a major, major difference.
Think about it – For those with ADD/HD, being on the phone is an incredibly frustrating process. For starters, you lose a hand. For people like us, who are used to doing a million things at the same time, not having a hand eliminates half of what we could be doing! Taking notes while on the phone? Nope, can’t type fast with one hand. Walking down the street? Can’t do anything else like buy a soda, or pull my Metrocard out of my wallet.
So yeah. I hated talking on the phone. Then, one day, VXI sent me a VXi BlueParrott® Xpressway II TM Convertible Noise Canceling Bluetooth® Wireless Headset
. I’d never used one before. Can you believe that? The last time I used a headset with a phone was when I worked at AOL, and they made us do call center work once a month. I had doubts, but what the heck, it was free, right?
Enter ridiculous life-changing moment here: Later that afternoon, my mom, one of two people who doesn’t respect my “please don’t call me,” rule, called me. I had the headset in, and had forgotten about it, until a ringing in my ear scared the hell out of me.
I answered the call, and it was as if a whole new world had opened up to me. I could talk to my mom, while doing my usual million other things at the same time. In fact, for the first time in as long as I can remember, my mom hung up first! She even called me back to ask me if I was ok, since I seemed to want to talk to her more, as opposed to my usual “I’m a little busy, I’ll see you this weekend,” routine.
I no longer hate talking on the phone! While I still believe that texting/email is more beneficial for most things, I don’t shudder when my phone rings anymore. I still won’t talk in elevators/planes/trains/restaurants, because hey, I’m not a horrible person. But in the end, I don’t hate the phone anymore. And that’s huge.
In an ADD/HD environment, it’s all about increasing productivity. If I can still have my hands while talking, then all of a sudden, I’m even more productive. This is a win.
A bluetooth headset is definitely a win for the ADD/HD brain, no doubt. I strongly recommend the Parrot from VXI. They’re not paying me to say that, either. Heck, they don’t even know I’m writing this. The affiliate link here will take you to Amazon – Pick one up – Definitely a game-changer for me.
