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I’m an older millennial. I enjoyed talking on the phone until I was something like 12. Texting wasn’t a big thing yet then, but messengers on the internet were. So I realized there were better ways of communicating.
When I was in college, I was hit by a car. I was poor and had no health insurance. That led to endless calls from debt collectors. That led to anxiety related to the sound of a phone ringing. I have not answered the phone to unknown numbers since then. My life is better for it.
I only occasionally listen to voicemail, and most of the time, it’s a doctor’s appointment automated reminder. The rest of the time, it’s usually spam. No point listening.
Anyone who knows me and needs or wants to get in touch with me knows how to do so and knows not to do so by phone call. Anyone else is unimportant.
Also older millennial. I found a two minute star wars themed wait message that i recorded and am using. The number of VMs from spam I receive is practically zero. Number of VMs from Publishers Clearing? Unfortunately also zero.
Both phone calls and emails are so full of ad-ridden garbage that they are useless for communication.
Texts are better signal-to-noise ratio, for me it is more like only 1% con artist identity thieves compared to the 99% coming via phone call.
I don’t know if phone call spam is only an American thing or something. In my country (and most of Europe) that stuff is effectively banned and doesn’t really happen.
Still hate getting calls though.
having proper bans in place do help, cutting number spoofing and rooting out local spam sources + barring voips that facilitate them means spam callers would have to connect internationally and cost more.
FCC is working on getting STIR/SHAKEN in place but it’s slow.
It’s basically the security you see with certs and domain names on the web but with phone numbers. If you try to place a call and can’t provide the ‘proof’ you own the number then the phone carrier just kills the call. Also helps with traceability because now they know exactly who owns what numbers so complaints of spam are much easier to go after.
You can already see this in inbound calls in your phone app. Should have a little check mark for validated callers.
Edit: freaking autocorrect
honestly i think this is due to unplanned voice calls essentially being broken technology now.
imagine we had 2020s email spammers while mail servers had 1990s spam filters, that’s basically where we’re at now with unplanned voice.
Texting is also damn convenient, I can deal with several conversations at once without having to pause the movie I’m watching.
Speaking on the phone doesn’t just tie your line, it ties your whole life too.
Sure works wonders if you’re busy with a chore. Laundry? Dishwashing (for the unfortunate souls without easy access to a dishwasher)? That’s the best time to call any yakker you know!
Another advantage of text, for me at least, is that I can read much faster than I can listen. This is why I prefer text articles to news videos, even though video can often offer extra visual information over what photographs can offer.
That said, I do somewhat agree with the article’s concern that live conversation is an independent skill and potentially has its own unique side-benefits that might be becoming rarer.
“A voice note is just like talking on the phone but better,” says Susie Jones, a 19-year-old student. “You get the benefits of hearing your friend’s voice but comes with no pressures so it’s a more polite way of communicating”.
Gross, voice notes are the worst of both worlds.
Text for things that are information critical, phone calls for things that are time critical.
Email for business (and keep the original chain going instead of starting a new one every time you think of something else to add!), text messages for associates, chat apps for friends and family.
Anyone who disagrees is wrong.
I mostly agree, but I think voice notes for close friends/family probably have a point.
At this point, I would also argue that texts/emails are also for time critical things since voice calls are essentially dead at this point.
99.99999% of the phone calls I get are spam. I haven’t gotten a new voice mail in like 6 months.
They are the worst unless you want to hear that person’s voice.
I’ve actively told any friend that send me a voice note that if you want me to respond to you don’t send it as a voice note, I won’t listen to it. It requires me to put headphones in or play it on speaker, and neither of those are happening unless it’s important.
hard agree, voice messages are the worst of both worlds, you can’t look at it and get the gist of what’s said, and you have to deal with listening to it, while requiring more bandwidth to use.
I’ve told my friends instead of pressing the voice button, just press the speech to text button, I’m more likely to read a wall of text than listen to a voice message.
Voice notes are pretty great when you’re driving.
Yeah, voice notes are the “your solution to your problem is somewhere in the middle of this 20 minute long YouTube video that could have been a short forum post with some screenshots instead” of the communication world.
Jesus, it’s not just me! It seems like every answer I need is only found in a video format without labeled bookmarks/sections. I hate it so much. Give me a how-to with concise instructions and gifs, or give me death.
Can’t get ad revenue on a short, concise, and helpful page.
Even a basic cookie recipe requires someone’s whole life story to fill in the blank space between 10 ads
I don’t mind a ‘phone call’ so long as it isn’t actually using a phone number where ISPs can spy, but using some encrypted service.
I get called like once or twice a week, and it’s usually something time sensitive or important. Always found people just flat out refusing to answer the phone crazy.
Eh. Gen-x here. I still have an hour long phonecall over signal with my best friend over signal two times a week or so.
In my teens I wasn’t too happy about making phonecalls either, but working on a helpdesk for a while sure cured that.
The US has a do not call list. The vast majority of robocalls are illegal scams which originate from outside of the country.
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Even worse, many of those scammy companies use the Do Not Call list as a list of known active numbers. Since the DNC is an opt-in thing, the call centers know that people have proactively added their numbers to the list.
So those calls are not for the benefit of US companies?
Like I said, they’re mostly scams. Warranty scams. Posing as “your bank” (which they, of course, don’t name). Etc. Legitimate companies follow the do not call list, since there are heavy penalties if they don’t.
Gotcha. That sucks.
The majority of them are run from scam call centers in India, but also in Southeast Asia.
Who knows?
We know the call center is not US-based, as those can be fined.
I’d venture most are scams too.
I don’t really get the whole not answering the phone thing. I hate phonecalls but I always answer my phone.
The amount of important calls I’d have missed if I buried my head in the sand like that is insane.
Sure if 90% of the calls were sales or scams I’d think differently, but there are ways to prevent that too.
I find it weird that everyone has their phone on silent all the time too. If mine was on silent I’d never look at it unless I’m bored.
Important news almost never comes via phone call. It comes in the mail or via email.
Tell that to the delivery driver that called me because they were outside with my groceries.
I get those notifications via text message.
Cool, with the phone on silent (which I don’t do) I’d have missed that too, and would have been cancelled and rescheduled.
This adamant denial that phone calls are useful is weird.
I never said they’re not useful for anyone. They’re not useful for me.
You realize that it still vibrates when on silent, so you know when you’re getting a text or phone call right?
Only if it’s right by you or isn’t in your bag or something. Hence audible alerts, they break through the physical barriers.
It’s pretty obvious why lol.
90% of the calls I receive are spam.
Calling demands that I pick up the phone RIGHT THE FUCK NOW. Bitch, if it ain’t a life threatening emergency I’m not dropping everything I’m working on for you.
Texting allows me to respond when it’s convenient for me.
Text generally takes 3 seconds to get the point across instead of having a whole conversation about it
God, or worse, a conversation around the conversation you’re actually speaking in order to have
Wouldn’t hate phone calls if it didn’t feel like somehow call quality and stability is the worst it’s been in my general area in a good decade. I’m sure it’s the big telecom guys cheaping out on towers and shoving far far far too many connections onto already oversaturated connections.
Well that and the endless spam lmao
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I can’t speak for others but as an older millennial, I grew up liking spending time on the phone with friends and loved ones. However in my adult life, I spent being anxious waiting for phone calls regarding job interviews and outcomes of them, and even being interviewed on some of them, including those without much notice. I also had to make calls to follow up things urgently or if I’m in trouble. As a result, I started to equate phone calls as mostly negative experiences.
I’m a millennial and I would rather communicate by phone for information dense things. It takes me forever to type things out on this tiny keyboard. I am a verbal processor though.That said I do ignore calls unless I know who you are or I see that’s its a work number. Ultimately, I think having both handy is useful. Text can be very useful when you want somebody to remember something or vice versa. It’s also quick when you are saying something simple.
99% of phone calls is typically a capitalistic company forcing employees to sell us something.
So yes… I’m not gonna pick up. Leave a voicemail 👍
99% of phone calls is typically a capitalistic company
forcing employeesusing chatbots to sell us something.employees are so 2010, FIFY
