What does your ringtone say about you?

http://www.amantidirect.co.uk/WebRoot/BT2/Shops/Store2_002E_Shop1529/505B/2CF7/5D95/28C8/5C27/0A0C/05E8/E4BE/Classic_Phone_746_Green_Cream_3.jpg

Do you remember when the phone rang a bell used to ring? If you do then you probably also remember that the phone had a curly wire connecting to a phone point, a handset that was connected to the phone base and a keypad that required you to physically turn it with your finger.

Mobile phones come loaded with ringtones that can be chosen but these are still not enough for most users. Technology has moved on so much that any sound or piece of music can be used as a ringtone. This means that the ringtone can be totally unique. My ringtone is part of a recording that I made during a Dutch wedding 18 months ago. A traditional Dutch folk band was performing and I took the opportunity to record a snippet of their tunes and then converted this to my ringtone.

I guess your ringtone might subconsciously reveal some interesting information about your character or mood, but I'm not clever enough to understand this. Too be honest it wouldn't surprise me if a psychologist has already published a thesis on just this phenomenon.

One story I heard the other day concerned a group of students in a school that had changed their ringtone to the so called mosquito alarm. The mosquito alarm emits a very high pitched note and is used in public places where the accumulation of groups of youths is not desired. This high pitched note is unpleasant and is designed to make the teenagers less likely to frequent the area around the alarm. The beauty of this deterrent is that its high pitch cannot be heard by older people. As people get older they become less able to hear high frequency notes, so they are immune to the effects. The mosquito alarm ringtone meant that the students could text each other without their teacher hearing the tones...classic.

Another well known 'ringtone' heard more frequently in the summer is of course the chimes of the ice cream van. It is a sound that has remained unchanged since my childhood. However the government have apparently set up a review, this is according to the Daily Mail, the enquiry asked: 'How long should the chimes be rung?; Where should they be rung?; Should they be rung after 8pm? Does this really warrant a government enquiry?

Just as long as the ice cream van chimes don't get changed to crazy frog I will be happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k85mRPqvMbE

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