Is there a time at night where you will no longer phone anyone as you consider it too late?

I have this "rule" and it is since my daughter died, that no one phones me after about 8.30 pm unless they tell me first!

I used to almost faint if the phone rang after about then for a long time after Gina died.
So, now all my friends know to please not phone me after that.

Consequently, I also do not phone anyone else after 8.30 pm although my children say I can phone anytime -they do not get a shock like I do!

by Finy

When I had a mobile phone,I turned it off at 7.30 every night!! With my landline,I do not like to receive or make calls after 8,unless it is an emergency. My son is the only one allowed to call me at late hours due to his shift work,but even he will make a huge effort not to call after 8 p.m. He called me once at 12.42 (just after midnight!) to let me know some very terrible, and tragic news and he knew it would affect me very badly,but it was extremely important. So that sort of thing is an exception to the rule.I know if the phone rings after 9 it is a really dire situation!

by Jules

Jules, my mother taught me that phoning someone in the middle of the night has no purpose -you cannot get on a plane -there is little you can do in the middle of the night so we had an agreement not to give bad news till after 7 am! Mind you, that was in the days before mobile were invented. I also turn mine off at night.

I must say that I am really glad to know that you do turn your mobile phone off at night!!! I find they can be such a huge intrusion into life. When my son called me that particular time,I would not have forgiven him if he had left it till I got up the next day.It was such a tragic event and he really did need to talk to me,his mum,who would empathise with him,100% !! He has never done it on any other occasion,as the need has never been so urgent or so immense. I was raised to never make calls after 7.30 ,but that was also in pre-mobile times. I do allow an extra hour each night in my own life. I just hate being disturbed for unimportant things,and hate to do the disturbing as well!! Sometimes I will organise in advance to make a call at a later time,but will not do it out of the blue.

My brother 14 years ago called me to tell me in the wee small hours his son had just hung himself.
I was at home in bed, and when I got the call I knew my brother needed to tell me.
I'm grateful I was at home, and able to scream...cry and in my case fall into a huge heap.....Of course there was nothing I could do at that time to get to him, as he is in Qld and I am in NSW, but! by the time I could get a flight to him, I was able to compose myself, to do so.
I don't think I would have been any good if he had told me during the day....

It was a very similar sort of tragedy which I was called about by my son.A very close friend of both of us had been savagely murdered as she was going home after work.She was an ex-girlfriend who had actually lived here with me and who had become a much better and closer friend than she had ever been a partner.
The case was very high profile,being featured on 'Wanted' which led to several positive Crime Stopper calls. The culprit was apprehended after a very long and difficult 18 months but the case has not yet gone to trial.after 2 and a half years.My son and I both really needed to be there for each other when he made than call to me,and I would never change a thing about him having called me. It allowed me,like you,to gather my wits together before seeing him.

Exactly Jules

When it comes to phoning others I take their work hours, family situation (little kids to get to bed) etc into consideration before phoning at night. I don't call at night much. If my phone rings after 10pm I go into panic mode and all sorts of catastrophic thoughts go through my mind. Luckily it is rare for anyone to phone me that late.

by Marie Vonow

I generally won't phone people after 9pm. I'll call my mother and my sister much later in the night because both are night owls so I know I can call them late in the night if I need to

by AJ

I prefer not to call people after 8. I think it's important people get to have a private and restful time of an evening. This isn't a viewed shared by my step children, both adults in their 30's who think nothing of texting into the wee hours of the morning.

by Gayle Beveridge

8pm is my cut off. I always say that unless somebody has a leg hanging off it is very rude to ring after that.

Yes! Great Question.

My cut off time is 7:30pm.

24 hrs in a day, so I should not disturb people at home, after that time.

I have had friends phone me even at 10pm and that is just plain rude.

Of course there will be times we have to make a urgent call, which is very different.

by jonaja

I don't like calls after about 8,00 but one friend in particular (married) tends to ring me after this...can't bring myself to say anyting as she prob then won't ring me at all!!

by Fran

Calls coming in after 8:30 have to be pretty important to be worth my answering. I need to wind down at the end of the day and get ready for the next day and the last thing I want is a phone call. Also, I go to bed pretty early and last time I got woken up by a late night phone call was for bad news, so I'd rather wait till the next day to have a chat.

by Sarah Bell

I turn my phone off at about 10 every night, and I won't usually call anyone after nine.

by Vee

My 'rulings' are:

I phone nobody after 9pm & vv.
I phone nobody before 10am on the weekend & vv.

My family, & friends know they can phone me ANYTIME in an emergency, as have both Phones 'on' 24/7!

by donjo

Nothing after 8.30. I go to bed early, but use the Internet in bed for about an hour.

by tmvfr

Will not ph anyone after 9 unless it's REALLY important/emergency. Won't ph before 10am on weekends or 8.30am weekdays. I put my ph on silent at 9pm, might check it before I go to bed, then on again when I'm up in the morning.

by helya

No. My husband is ALWAYS up until 2 or 3 am anyway, (from his days/nights of shift work, a very long time ago) so we don’t mind when anyone calls. My mobile gets left on for days at a time sometimes, & no-one calls it anyway, during that time. We also have a landline, that only receives about 1 call a week!

by miro_

Yes, after 8pm unless it is something important, the same with early phone calls in the morning - wait until 8 am.

Farley

by farle

I don't ring late at night because im busy watching TV. If I did ring it would be an emergency situation. My neighbor and I have keys to each other s houses for emergency s and I know she wouldn't mind me calling for that reason. When my mother died I texted everyone that she loved them and that she went home to heaven in the late hours of the night.

by nat_c

Yes - about 9pm'ish.

by poppy

I don't like to ring people from 8 o clock unles it's an emergency.

by Diana Nairn

I would say about 8.30, I find this time too late, unless it's an emergency!

by Diana Nairn