talkophobes

[bort]

Guilty.... I've emailed and chatted with you many times over the years. I have no clue if you have a "southern accent" (and you no clue if I talk funny like an east coaster!)

[jperry1466]

Ain't it the truth. I have friends, usually younger friends, who will not answer the phone no matter the time when I call. But they will text me all day long at all hours. These particular friends are usually not too good at face to face conversations, either.

[Donn]

Ain't it the truth. I have friends, usually younger friends, who will not answer the phone no matter the time when I call. But they will text me all day long at all hours. These particular friends are usually not too good at face to face conversations, either.

For myself, I don't particularly relish phone conversation - just to start with, the party who answers the phone was almost certainly called away from something else and who knows what that was, and then if there's information to be exchanged it has to be spelled out, if you can even produce that information off the top of your head. An email waits until you read it at your convenience, everything in it can be checked before it goes in, and anything in it can be recalled later or copied by the recipient without error.

So - on the contrary, if email is out for some reason and it isn't too far out of the way, I might appear in person for a face to face conversation, which isn't really much better on the aforementioned points but at least we can expect better audio fidelity and infinitely better video fidelity. I won't soon forget the time some years back when I thought I might could use some legal assistance, and I dropped by a nearby lawyer's office. The woman at the front desk was outraged. "You can't just waltz in here and see him!" What I intended of course was to have the same conversation I suppose she has every day with potential clients over the phone; if I'd been a faster thinker, I could have asked if she could spare a phone, so I could sit down with it there and call her. It's too bad, because of course I tossed that and went to some other lawyer, and he turned out to be somewhat notoriously incompetent.

[Worth]

I remember back in the day in high school if you wanted to talk with a girl on the phone, you had to call her house phone which meant speaking with her parents first. Oh, and my Dad telling me to always look people in the eyes when speaking with them. Looking back, I'm glad I got to grow up in the 60s and 70s. The temptations, and that "jones" for immediate gratification offered by modern technology, are tremendous and seem to be making us all less patient with almost everything, including each other. As social as we like to think we have become (social networking, etc.) rudeness, social ineptness and a culture of impatience abounds. Tubenet is a refreshing (and entertaining) oasis of respite from it all. Thinks... did I call Bloke when I ordered my stuff? No, I sent an e-mail for the same reasons Donn laid out, didn't want to inconvenience, etc. Good thought provoking thread.

[gwwilk]

My land line has become almost useless in this age of robocalls. During political campaigns it seems the biggest abusers are candidates seeking my vote. I wish they would understand that they're only irritating me, not educating me, and run the risk of losing my support by engaging in such foolishness.

Another problem with my land line is my poor hearing. It's nearly impossible to understand what's being said when it's a soft female voice who's using some VOIP-based system to provide technical support. Fortunately my hearing aids have an optional accessory that sends my cell phone's calls directly into them while containing a microphone to pick up my end of the conversation. I just push a button on the accessory that I wear on my shirt to answer or hang up while all of the conversation in between is crystal clear, clearer even than if we were face-to-face.

The advantage of text or email is as previously described: thoughtful, edited input that leaves a record which can be referred back to when senior moments strike.

[cjk]

I called bloke about this thread since I'm too lazy to type. Talking to bloke is fun.

[Micah Everett]

When I was in high school my parents were insistent that I get a job, but the only place that would hire me for the hours that fit my school and performing schedule (not too much brass gigging at that time but I was in a couple of singing groups that worked around town a bit) was a telemarketing firm. After a few months of that over twenty years ago I *still* do not like to voice call people who are not expecting a call from me.

I'll call bloke, though. He seems to have no qualms about calling me at somewhat weird hours (i.e. later than regular business hours, but not unreasonably so), so I don't mind doing the same.

[The Brute Squad]

After a few months of that over twenty years ago I *still* do not like to voice call people who are not expecting a call from me.

More or less the same here. I worked for a telemarketer on breaks from college and still hate calling people because of it. Easier to do for "business," though.

[The Brute Squad]

I've heard that something - once-and-for-all - may be done about them, but I really don't see how.

That's what they said about the National Do Not Call List (coincidentally enacted while I was working as a telemarketer), so I'll believe it when I see it.

[Three Valves]

Shop on line.

Close on the phone!!

[proam]

Well, I am not young (60+) but I hate talking on the phone and have for a long time.

With email, I can make sure that I say exactly what I want to say and I have a written record of the conversation. In a phone conversation, I can (and do) forget critical information that was relayed almost immediately after it was spoken. I also use SMS text, Google hangouts, and iMessages but prefer emails for critical information.

I did work in the computer field so maybe that explains why I prefer to type, but even there my avoidance of making phone calls caused me some difficulties. There is really no good reason why I hate talking on the phone; I just do.

An aside: I collect the information from the preacher and create/print/copy the bulletins for my church. The last 3 preachers emailed me the information - copy/paste/format and I'm done. Now we have a new preacher who emphatically does NOT use email, only the phone. I told him that I prefer email. So I guess that I will change or will hand it off to someone else.

[Donn]

People can privately leave it for me (as if random stacks of "assigned tasks") in - as you just mentioned - several platforms...

Not sure I understand - the problem with email, is that people also plague you with email-like messages in other forms, such as "iMessages" whatever that is?

I suppose, it's somewhat awkward to disabuse people of the notion, after they've been introduced to iMessages, that everyone in the world can be reached through iMessages as its marketing office likely has told them. But there's really nothing for it, you have to just draw the line and not install iMessages and start corresponding with people there. Or go one step further as I have done and never hear of it.

The only thing I really hate about email is "Yahoo" email, from people who have installed Yahoo software on their computers and use it to send email. Like most software these days, it supports enhanced composition that depends on HTML markup, so the email arrives in two parts, an HTML part and a text part for those who don't care about the enhanced fonts and colors and whatnot that the sender may have sweated over. Yahoo's bright boys, however, seem to be peculiarly unable to understand what "text" means, or how to render a message in that form, so more or less uniquely one expects to receive mangled garbage in the text parts of emails from those unfortunate users. You can tell them about this, and they'll allow that they really don't care much for this Yahoo email anyway, but I guess Yahoo somehow preys on the especially inept, because the process of leaving Yahoo behind is too daunting for them to fully confront.

[Donn]

Well, OK, it isn't the only thing I hate about email. How about this: the Germans, who following a centuries old tradition resist adoption of Latin into their vocabulary, translate Latin "Re" to "Aw", I guess from Antwort, even though I'm pretty sure most German speakers know quite well what "Re" means in this context. The email software knows that when your subject line already starts with "Re: " (or "RE" in in the Microsoft failure zone), that will serve the purpose and it doesn't need to add another "Re:", but of course its authors never guessed how the Germans would react to that, so if you're corresponding with a German (in English, of course), the subject line starts to look like "Re: Aw: Re: Aw: Re: Aw: Re: what's up bro?"

[Three Valves]

I do prefer to text the wife.

I’m not saying I don’t like speaking to her over the phone...

I’m just saying!!

[Billy M.]

btw...I sound like a cross between James Bond, Darth Vader, Barry White, and 1960's-movies-era Elvis.

This is accurate.

[Levaix]

My job requires me to talk in person and on the phone (often to difficult people) for several hours a day minimum. If it's urgent I'll certainly call, but I need to give my jaw a break when I can. Or maybe that's just my excuse...

[MaryAnn]

I guess you "went paleo?"

I don't answer calls that are not in my contacts list, because of the spammers. I can't not get texts, but so far the spammers have not texted me, and having a flip phone if it has anything but text in it, it's just gibberish anyway. With good friends I far prefer to talk, although with a few we also email quite a bit. Like we actually used to do at work, engineers emailing cubicle to cubicle even when we could stand up and see each other. It kept the workplace quieter.
If someone needs me to call for information, I type way better and way faster than I scribble, so before the call I'll open textpad and get the fingers ready,

[vespa50sp]

I've shut off all notifications on my cell, I just look at messaging when I want. The phone still rings - so if people really want to get a hold of me, they'll call.

I'm much happier now.