As much as I love to talk, I really don’t like talking on the phone. There are a few people I like to chat with, but for the most part, I prefer getting emails and texts to phone calls. Part of it is because I generally have some social anxiety when calling someone or answering the phone. Part of it is because (and this is something I’ve never told anyone), for one reason or another, I often have a hard time hearing clearly when on the phone, and it gets frustrating constantly having to ask people to repeat themselves. Part of it is because I rarely remember dates, times and addresses if told them verbally–I need to see them in writing.
I was pulling up an app on my smartphone the other day and got annoyed when a phone call started coming through, interrupting what I was doing on my phone. I realized that more often than not, I wish my smartphone wasn’t a phone, just a handy little computer I could easily use wherever I am. Now I’m contemplating scaling down to the cheapest flip phone I can get and carrying a tablet around with me. I would only give my phone number out to businesses and organizations who require you to have a phone number for contact. And to be honest, I’d probably never answer my phone. Well, almost never.
Ye Old Goblin Cartoons 
i totally agree! i HATE talking on the phone!! i can’t understand what people are saying, and if they had written it down, i could think about whatever it is they’re talking about with plenty of time, instead of needing an instant reaction. i wish phones didn’t exist sometimes.
Hooray for the He-Man Phone Haters Club! I also dislike phone calls for many of the same reasons, also add introvert and worked in a outbound call center for a cumulative 4 years and after interrupting countless dinners/dates/lives? I only make phone calls when I really do need to speak to that person right now or they’re my family.
That said, if I had a boy to call me on the regular, I wouldn’t mind. 🙂
I’m with you, I hate talking on the phone. Unfortunately, my job means I have to spend a fair amount of time doing it. Beyond that I don’t use my phone at all. In fact, one month I think I used a total of 3 minutes. I’m with you wishing that my smart phone was not a phone at all.
I like talking on the phone, but I don’t like being interrupted by my online world or by my phone. That’s why I love my “cheapest flip phone I can get.” Owning an unsmart phone allows me to control–to an extent–my media/human universe. And it makes me happy. Even when I have to rely on paper maps. 🙂
Yeah, fully agree. Stephen Fry quoted someone else, I can’t remember who, that you should treat a ringing phone as someone shouting in a sing song voice “TALK TO ME! TALK TO ME NOW!”
Despite social convention developing the other way, I don’t think you have an automatic obligation to answer a ringing phone.
If you have information to give, mail or text. At work I much prefer using instant messaging, and I’m getting into the habit of making my first message “knock knock”.