If you had told me in 1990 that by 2015 we would all have video phones but most of us would prefer sending text messages, I would have laughed right in your face. Then, after assuring me that you weren’t joking, I would have responded with shahnm’s gif.
@simplersimon Yeah, I’m with ya’… Yakking on the phone for work (consulting) consumes much of my day.
After which, I’ll avoid talking on the phone at all costs.
It’s not uncommon for me to use less than 1 minute of talk time on my personal phone per month. I spend more time answering telemarketing calls than personal calls (no I don’t want a solar system, no I don’t want to sell my house to a cash buyer, no I don’t want a lower interest rate on my mortgage or a credit card consolidation program!)
My business line and office phone is another story.
Why, oh why can’t people just let email and texting do what it was designed to do?
I get tons of scam calls but it seems they are all automated now. I usually answer but don’t say anything and set my phone to the side until they hang up. But now I can hear some message prattling along when I do that.
If a call was from Kansas I’d answer because it might be @barney, but otherwise I’d let it go to voicemail and then delete it. I don’t like phone calls.
@Barney@sligett@therealjrn I spent every Easter in Salina, Kansas for the first 17 Easter’s of my life. Pretty sure Kansas is not only real, it’s real flat.
I don’t hate phone calls. I did for awhile, but I’m working a lot on the social anxiety piece that ties in with my depression. Sometimes they’re the most efficient way to accomplish something and be sure that it has actually been heard and understood. I hate using it for ordering food. Text will always be superior for that, but working out things with people in offices that are bad with quick text-based response is better.
Slightly related, online support chat is the most beautiful and wonderful invention in its class.
@jitc ordering food via the internet is so great, although i still miss foodler, but grubhub suffices. don’t have to worry about being misheard, or language barriers, or the person answering the phone getting distracted because it’s crazy in the background, or leaving you on hold and forgetting, etc.
i still get miffed every time i have to explain to a driver how to get to my house though, when it is WRITTEN IN CAPITAL LETTERS ON THE RECEIPT THEY ARE LOOKING AT. they always reference it too, so like…why don’t you just do what it says? boggles the mind. or they get here just fine, but instead of simply ringing the bell, they stand out in the dark and the cold fishing for their phone, looking up our number, and calling us to let us know they’ve arrived with the food?? that’s another mystery.
@jerk_nugget oh, yeah the calling-when-getting-to-the-door thing is HUGELY irritating. Just knock already, sheesh. I ordered online so I could avoid talking to someone on the phone for reasons of inefficiency, and now you’re calling me?
I write the directions to my apartment VERY explicitly in the information section, and thankfully thus far it has worked alright. Apartments are the worst to deliver to, though. At least my current complex only has one building. If it’s a detached house, there’s really little excuse to get it wrong.
I get people’s preference to text (expedience when relating short, concrete facts) and email (ability to choose words precisely), but I wish more people could recognize those situations when a phone call is much more efficient.
I much prefer texting or email. I get tongue tied in calls or in person but in writing, I can review what I say. I also admit I don’t always pay attention when on phone calls and may forget something.
I talk on the phone if I’m driving sometimes, as it doesn’t require my hands or eyes.
And it really is more personal. I haven’t gotten on the video calling bandwagon, but I’m not really sure why.
Spam is by far the worst aspect of phone calling, to the point where I recently blocked all numbers that aren’t in my contacts list so they go straight to voicemail. If it’s important they can leave a voicemail and then I’ll add them to my contacts. It’s not a great system honestly, but better than 5x a day interruption from spammers. Plus, I’ve seen that if you go straight to voicemail (even one ring shows that your phone is native) every time, after a while the robocallers stop calling (for a time, at least)
The only time I talk on the phone is when it’s important, since you can get things done quickly that way. Most of my friends know also to call me if it’s important, otherwise just send me a text and I’ll respond when I have a free moment.
Also I do what many others do where I never answer a call from someone who I don’t know due to spam; if it’s a legitimate call from someone not in my contact list they can leave a message and I’ll call them back immediately. Obviously if they let me know in advance they’d be calling and I didn’t get their number I’d pick up too, but in my opinion that’s common phone etiquette in today’s virtual landscape.
As someone who is severely hard of hearing, and still pretty hard of hearing with hearing aids in, modern phones SUCK when it comes to accommodating hearing aids. So, no. If you talk to me on a phone, prepare to repeat yourself A LOT.
hate it, always have. i’m 35 and thus spent half my life or more without internet or cell phones/smart phones/texting or social media so it’s not because of that, just always been this way.
when i was younger and my little friends would call, i would ask my mom to pretend yell at me to get off the phone so i wouldn’t have to talk on it. “come say hi to gramma on the phone!” was also something i would dread hearing and would strike fear into my body, despite the fact that my gramma was one of my favorite people on this earth and i spent tons and tons of time with her. (my gramma loved to talk on the phone, she had a whole side table/buffet thing set up just for talking on the phone. it had the rotary phone, a stuffed animal with a plastic rotary phone, a lamp, address book, phone book, pens, paper, a big comfy vinyl chair…a whole phone conversation command center. she loved to spend forever on the phone with friends and family.)
i’ll return a phone call to my parents if email won’t suffice, and i’ll answer if my partner calls (because it’s super rare so i know it must be important) but that’s it. and i still feel awkward & anxious af in all those scenarios.
i’m old school. My mom worked for the phone company, so i grew up with the phone being an important tool on many levels. When cel phones came out, i was an early adopter… because MORE PHONE! When the iPhone first came out, i got one in the first month (thanks to a friend who worked for the company) - i’d been dreaming of a daytimer i could call because i was losing mine all the time. i quickly adjusted to using my phone as a data source as much as for calls.
Now… i use text/discord/phone almost interchangeably. Quick notes of course are easier via text. But more complex organization are often faster when done via a 2 minute call than with 15 texts back and forth.
Sometimes my phone makes an unfamiliar sound and shows some numbers on the screen and I quickly silence it and pretend it never happened.
@awk If ignorance is bliss, then I’m a happy man!
If you had told me in 1990 that by 2015 we would all have video phones but most of us would prefer sending text messages, I would have laughed right in your face. Then, after assuring me that you weren’t joking, I would have responded with shahnm’s gif.
Talking on the phone is useful in some situations, but relaying specific information like addresses, dates, and times is better for email or texts.
Depends. I find talking to be easier when devising plans. Text is best for quick exchanges of information and sending memes.
I talk on the phone enough for work.
@simplersimon Yeah, I’m with ya’… Yakking on the phone for work (consulting) consumes much of my day.
After which, I’ll avoid talking on the phone at all costs.
@simplersimon Yep, that was me twenty years ago and still don’t like being on the phone.
It’s not uncommon for me to use less than 1 minute of talk time on my personal phone per month. I spend more time answering telemarketing calls than personal calls (no I don’t want a solar system, no I don’t want to sell my house to a cash buyer, no I don’t want a lower interest rate on my mortgage or a credit card consolidation program!)
My business line and office phone is another story.
Why, oh why can’t people just let email and texting do what it was designed to do?
@ruouttaurmind
Forward those spammers to me. I’m eager to try out the “Screan Call” feature on my phone.
I get tons of scam calls but it seems they are all automated now. I usually answer but don’t say anything and set my phone to the side until they hang up. But now I can hear some message prattling along when I do that.
@kittykat9180 it’s amazing to me that anybody answers the phone when they don’t know who it is. it’s like answering the door. no thanks lol.
If a call was from Kansas I’d answer because it might be @barney, but otherwise I’d let it go to voicemail and then delete it. I don’t like phone calls.
Purple 4ever.
@sligett I thought @barney was in Texas for some reason.
@Barney @JnKL @sligett Nope. She says she is in Kansas. Pfft. Like Kansas is a real place.
@Barney @sligett @therealjrn I spent every Easter in Salina, Kansas for the first 17 Easter’s of my life. Pretty sure Kansas is not only real, it’s real flat.
@Barney @JnKL @therealjrn
@JnKL – @Barney is your next-door neighbor. Just drive 100 miles straight west. Or east, or south. I’m sure it’s one of those.
@JnKL @sligett @therealjrn Yep, I live in the land of Oz. And @sligett, I’d even take my phone out of the nightstand drawer and answer a call from you.
@Barney @JnKL @sligett Hey Barn! You can call me anytime! 248-434-5508 Anytime.
@therealjrn Go away.
@Barney How do I know this is the real Barney? You should call me to make sure.
@therealjrn Far away.
I don’t hate phone calls. I did for awhile, but I’m working a lot on the social anxiety piece that ties in with my depression. Sometimes they’re the most efficient way to accomplish something and be sure that it has actually been heard and understood. I hate using it for ordering food. Text will always be superior for that, but working out things with people in offices that are bad with quick text-based response is better.
Slightly related, online support chat is the most beautiful and wonderful invention in its class.
@jitc ordering food via the internet is so great, although i still miss foodler, but grubhub suffices. don’t have to worry about being misheard, or language barriers, or the person answering the phone getting distracted because it’s crazy in the background, or leaving you on hold and forgetting, etc.
i still get miffed every time i have to explain to a driver how to get to my house though, when it is WRITTEN IN CAPITAL LETTERS ON THE RECEIPT THEY ARE LOOKING AT. they always reference it too, so like…why don’t you just do what it says? boggles the mind. or they get here just fine, but instead of simply ringing the bell, they stand out in the dark and the cold fishing for their phone, looking up our number, and calling us to let us know they’ve arrived with the food?? that’s another mystery.
@jerk_nugget oh, yeah the calling-when-getting-to-the-door thing is HUGELY irritating. Just knock already, sheesh. I ordered online so I could avoid talking to someone on the phone for reasons of inefficiency, and now you’re calling me?
I write the directions to my apartment VERY explicitly in the information section, and thankfully thus far it has worked alright. Apartments are the worst to deliver to, though. At least my current complex only has one building. If it’s a detached house, there’s really little excuse to get it wrong.
I get people’s preference to text (expedience when relating short, concrete facts) and email (ability to choose words precisely), but I wish more people could recognize those situations when a phone call is much more efficient.
Personal time, I only talk on the phone to family. But I’m on the phone all the time for work.
I much prefer texting or email. I get tongue tied in calls or in person but in writing, I can review what I say. I also admit I don’t always pay attention when on phone calls and may forget something.
I talk on the phone if I’m driving sometimes, as it doesn’t require my hands or eyes.
And it really is more personal. I haven’t gotten on the video calling bandwagon, but I’m not really sure why.
Spam is by far the worst aspect of phone calling, to the point where I recently blocked all numbers that aren’t in my contacts list so they go straight to voicemail. If it’s important they can leave a voicemail and then I’ll add them to my contacts. It’s not a great system honestly, but better than 5x a day interruption from spammers. Plus, I’ve seen that if you go straight to voicemail (even one ring shows that your phone is native) every time, after a while the robocallers stop calling (for a time, at least)
The only time I talk on the phone is when it’s important, since you can get things done quickly that way. Most of my friends know also to call me if it’s important, otherwise just send me a text and I’ll respond when I have a free moment.
Also I do what many others do where I never answer a call from someone who I don’t know due to spam; if it’s a legitimate call from someone not in my contact list they can leave a message and I’ll call them back immediately. Obviously if they let me know in advance they’d be calling and I didn’t get their number I’d pick up too, but in my opinion that’s common phone etiquette in today’s virtual landscape.
I have a few older relatives who can’t learn to use a smartphone. They call, though collectively it’s about 30 minutes a month.
As someone who is severely hard of hearing, and still pretty hard of hearing with hearing aids in, modern phones SUCK when it comes to accommodating hearing aids. So, no. If you talk to me on a phone, prepare to repeat yourself A LOT.
I use Discord for everything I possibly can.
I’m somewhere in the middle.
hate it, always have. i’m 35 and thus spent half my life or more without internet or cell phones/smart phones/texting or social media so it’s not because of that, just always been this way.
when i was younger and my little friends would call, i would ask my mom to pretend yell at me to get off the phone so i wouldn’t have to talk on it. “come say hi to gramma on the phone!” was also something i would dread hearing and would strike fear into my body, despite the fact that my gramma was one of my favorite people on this earth and i spent tons and tons of time with her. (my gramma loved to talk on the phone, she had a whole side table/buffet thing set up just for talking on the phone. it had the rotary phone, a stuffed animal with a plastic rotary phone, a lamp, address book, phone book, pens, paper, a big comfy vinyl chair…a whole phone conversation command center. she loved to spend forever on the phone with friends and family.)
i’ll return a phone call to my parents if email won’t suffice, and i’ll answer if my partner calls (because it’s super rare so i know it must be important) but that’s it. and i still feel awkward & anxious af in all those scenarios.
i’m old school. My mom worked for the phone company, so i grew up with the phone being an important tool on many levels. When cel phones came out, i was an early adopter… because MORE PHONE!
When the iPhone first came out, i got one in the first month (thanks to a friend who worked for the company) - i’d been dreaming of a daytimer i could call because i was losing mine all the time. i quickly adjusted to using my phone as a data source as much as for calls.
Now… i use text/discord/phone almost interchangeably. Quick notes of course are easier via text. But more complex organization are often faster when done via a 2 minute call than with 15 texts back and forth.