Thursday, May 27, 2010

Ring Tone Psychology

While recently sitting at a dinner with a lot of people I didn't know, most everyone at the table got a cell phone sometime during the evening. I had an opportunity to observe the people and hear each of their ring tones. I realized that a person's ring tone is a glimpse into their personalities.

My ring tone is Peruvian music. Why did I choose it? I know that for me personally, I picked it because it is unique and easy for me to hear among other noises. A stranger might think I choose foreign music because it's my culture or a culture that has special meaning to me. While Peru and it's music have no special hold on me other than I like it, I am a fan of cultural folk music. I'm not sure what that says about me, though.

My husband's ring tone is a Pep Shop Boys song. He likes the Pet Shop Boys. He likes 80's music. I guess he is an 80's punk at heart.

One gentleman's tone, who was at the dinner table with us, had an old fashioned telephone ring. He is a traditionalist. After pointing out this observation to Hubby, he told me, the gentleman at the table was talking about how much he missed the old ways of life. My observation was correct. He likes tradition, but since being forced into a modern world of cell phones, he choose to make his ring tone a tradition telephone ring.

Another gentleman's ring at the table was a disco song. It's funny to look at him because he had a neat military hair cut, a white shirt and conservative tie. Have you ever seen the movie Hoodwinked? It's a great family flick. One of the characters is named Nicky Flippers, who is a respectable detective. At one point during the movie, you get a 3 second glimpse into Nicky's past and he is doing John Travolta disco moves on a disco floor. I think this gentleman is probably like Nicky Flippers, a respectable, conservative man with a disco past. He hasn't forgotten his disco years, but his professional life requires a very different demeanor. He has found his ring tone to be a personal way of keeping in touch with that inner John Travolta.

Then, there are those, like my mom, who kept the ring tone that came with the phone. She never changed it or personalized it in anyway. These are no frills people. They don't need anything fancy or fun. Just the basic. Let stick to business, people! You know the kind.

So, what kind of ring tone do you have? What psychology is revealed about you when your cell phone rings?

5 comments:

Lena Baron said...

I'm the no frills, Is that mine or yours ring tone. The one everyone thinks is theirs. Leif on the other hand likes the fun sounds.

Kleanteeth said...

I have different tones for different people. My general tone is Follow Me by Uncle Kracker. I guess it says that I like that kind of country music. I have a reggae song for Ben cuz he's an island boy. For one friend I have a baby laughing at a fart sound. Another thing for me is that I only get ringtones that are free, that might also tell you that I'm cheap or frugal.

JayShay said...

I have different ring tones for different people as well. My mom is Eric Clapton, friends are
B-52's and the BeeGees, kids are funny songs that make me think of them. My ringback, maybe that says more about me. You'll have to call my cell and tell me what you think! :0)

Molly said...

I think it would be fun having different songs/rings for different people. I don't know how to do that. My phone might not be capable of that. I don't know. My phone does have an MP3 feature, so I pick a song from my playlist to be my ring. Once it was the 5 tones from Close Encounters. Another time it was the French song Un Homme et Une Femme. I guess I like the cultural music. I wouldn't pay for anything special either. I'm too cheap, I mean frugal, for that. :)

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