Joe Walsh once sang: "Just leave a message, maybe I'll call".O0
That song's becoming the anthem of my life. Some days 80% of my vocabulary comes from its lines.
I predict 20 years from now few people will even remember this debate. I find it annoying, but my younger siblings have absolutely no problem with calls, texting, whatever, anywhere at all, and pretty soon they'll be the only ones around!
That's because we Boomers come from an era when people who "carried" walkie-talkies, pagers, and cell phones were severely punished for the privilege. Their offices paid the expenses so that they could could contact them anywhere, anytime, multiple times per night! No wonder we have an immediate hostile Pavlovian response to ringtones.
Neither spouse nor I use a cell phone, and we've turned off the ringers at our house. You'd think that'd be due to our daughter's boyfriends or marketers, but no. It's because of her girl "friends". These are the ones who can't believe she doesn't have a cell phone. When they get our answering machine, they'll call back five or six times just to make sure they have the right number or to yell at the machine "Pick up, girl!!" Or spouse will answer and they'll assume it's our kid, so the callers will utter the most interesting phrases or blurt out critical HUMINT.
Unexpected side benefit of not answering the phone: Our kid has learned that if she calls home for advice or rescue that she's probably going to end up chatting with the machine. So she's learned to leave status reports and to solve her own darn problems, or (*gasp*) to plan ahead and avoid them in the first place.
Our favorite high-school cell phone story is the sophomore who had a hissy fit with her teacher about a grade. After hurling invective at her teacher and hearing "No" for the fourth or fifth time, she whipped out her cell phone (use not permitted in classrooms), speed-dialed, and said "Mom, I'm with my English teacher. Talk to her!" and thrust the phone at teacher. Teacher took the phone, said "Hello, your daughter has been rude and abusive. I'm calling school security now, so please contact the principal's office." She handed the phone back to the girl, who threw it at her. Five days' suspension.