June 15, 2003
Ringing once: squillo or pranking
This is a favorite story, posted by Howard Rheingold in Smart Mobs last year, reporting on an article published in The Age, about Italian students who have developed an entire communications system based on not answering their cell phone when it rings. "They have called their development "the squillo". A squillo is a one-ring mobile phone call - squillare means "to ring" in Italian. The receiving phone buzzes for one to two seconds and then stops. It notes who the call is from, that is all. A squillo is not meant to be answered; it is meant to be noticed".
In the ON/OFF documentary on the social aspects of the use of communication technologies in a variety of cultural settings, the single ring practice came up in one of the English families filmed by the crew in London, but with a very different meaning. Unlike the Italians who ring once to flirt or convey the message "I'm thinking about you." UK Teenagers ring once to save money. In what they call "pranking", they dial a number and hang up after the first ring, so their number appears on the cell screen of the recipient, who then calls them back at his expense.
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