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This is when you lie: "I am really, really sorry, my cell phone had no signal where we were stopped on the train." OR "I am really, really sorry, my charger stopped working last week and I just haven't had the time to get a new one." OR "I am really, really sorry, I called but I just kept getting a 'Number not in service' message."

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That's the problem though, mobile communication seems to end up with so many lies, excuses, or reasons to fiddle the truth.. far more than any other medium. Sure, letters can get 'lost' in the post, an email can 'bounce' or 'sorry, it was marked as spam', but the level of active dishonesty around mobiles is crazy.

It's inherent in a synchronus communication medium like a phone call. With letters and email, you can respond at your leisure, but with a phone call you have to make an instant decision whether to answer it or not. Seeing as people both A) don't want to be rude to their friends and co-workers and B) don't want to have their lives dictated by a ringing phone, white lies ("sorry, no service", "sorry, didn't see your call") are more or less the most reasonable solution. They keep the benefits of instantaneous access and mitigate most of the drawbacks.

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