Anybody remember that old comedy bit? Well let me tell you I’m well versed in millions of dollars of very sophisticated software and hardware. However people have forgotten how to “ANSWER THE TELEPHONE”. I get it, a quick text message is good to say, “hey you want something from the store”, but if I bother to call someone to personally talk to them, ANSWER THE TELEPHONE. I would seriously guess that most nobody i know have lives that are too critical that they cannot talk on the phone for a minute and a half-if you think otherwise let me know so i can remove your #. I got some goofy calls from odd #’s today that turned into sales, so…ANSWER THE TELEPHONE, if only to say thanks for calling and can i ring you back…
Wow! My blog hasn’t seen so much traffic in a while! In the time to make that post Chris Tsambis you might of had time to make 3 or 4 meaningful and personal verbal interactions. I like your post and you too, my pro to your con wins though, maybe you too young to have a voicemail machine… And in the time this has taken so Tap this out, I could have had 2 meaningful chats with friends… 😀
As a rule, I don’t answer my phone when it rings. Sometimes I acutally turn it off or silence it–then forget I did that until days later. I could type up a bunch of reasons why (like Tsambis), but it boils down to just being introverted. And, to an introvert, the phone is the devil. This Psychology Today article explains it better than I could: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-introverts-corner/201002/dont-call-us-we-ll-call-well-no-actually-we-probably-won-t
Just because we have our phones on us 24/7 doesn’t mean we are obligated to answer 24/7. I won’t answer the phone if I’m already in a conversation with someone else, because that would be rude.
I usually won’t answer the phone if I’m on someone’s clock because that might be unethical.
Sometimes I won’t answer because I’m taking some daily time off.
And whether its my best friend in the world or a complete stranger, there’s no way to know if it’s going to take 1 minute or an hour if I pick up.
I do try to call or text people back asap, but I know I can do better.
This relatively new norm of having a phone 24/7 is something that society is still grappling with in terms of politeness and protocol.
Ultimately I’ve found some people prefer texting, some prefer email, some prefer old fashioned phone calls.
I try to be as accommodating as possible. I try to deal with people on their terms as much as possible.
Quite honestly and candidly, phone calls (talking to people in general) give me slight anxiety. It has nothing to do with the person, and everything to do with my own personality quirks. A lot of people get surprised when I tell them I have social anxiety, because I generally act fine around people. But that’s usually after some serious mental preparation on my part.
Anyway all this to say, maybe give people a break if they don’t immediately answer. Especially if its me, lol.
^^^ Talk about new social phenomena: How about the well-written, well-reasoned treatise that ends with “lol.”
It was either that or ❤️ to emphasize the friendly tone of my rebuttal.