I once thought it was reasonable to pick up the phone and call someone when I wanted to talk to them, and to pick up my phone when it rang; things have changed, and someone thinking about what’s possible could have seen the dilution of that signal into noise coming.
I realize that I don’t know what exactly did drive this change? I’ve mostly seen it attributed to a generational thing—“millennials and people younger than that don’t like phone calls”—and while I am in fact a millennial who doesn’t like phone calls, I don’t know what made it different in the past. Just that instant messaging etc. becoming available meant that calls were no longer the only way of quickly contacting someone else?
For context, I’m 65. “Back in the day” for most people, most of the time, phone calls were rare enough that no one worried about being interrupted by them coming in randomly. I suspect the frequency with which people send text messages, combined with the effectively zero cost of phone calls (hint: they weren’t always that way!), raised the frequency (or potential frequency) of phone calls to the level where people started worrying about the interruptions. Just a theory.
I think it might have to do with a millennial discomfort with intruding on people (relative to older generations), and the perception of phone calls as such.
I discussed this a bit with others after posting my comment and learned that the spam thing is a serious problem in the US. I don’t know what causes the difference but it’s less of a problem here. Looking at my call history I have on average one unanswered call from an unfamiliar number (presumed spam) every eleven days this year, which is relatively minor. Spam texts even less so.
I agree. I’ve had the same number in Sweden for over twenty years, and only get a handful of spam calls per year. And I’m not particularly careful about giving out my number either.
I realize that I don’t know what exactly did drive this change? I’ve mostly seen it attributed to a generational thing—“millennials and people younger than that don’t like phone calls”—and while I am in fact a millennial who doesn’t like phone calls, I don’t know what made it different in the past. Just that instant messaging etc. becoming available meant that calls were no longer the only way of quickly contacting someone else?
For context, I’m 65. “Back in the day” for most people, most of the time, phone calls were rare enough that no one worried about being interrupted by them coming in randomly. I suspect the frequency with which people send text messages, combined with the effectively zero cost of phone calls (hint: they weren’t always that way!), raised the frequency (or potential frequency) of phone calls to the level where people started worrying about the interruptions. Just a theory.
I think it might have to do with a millennial discomfort with intruding on people (relative to older generations), and the perception of phone calls as such.
Hard to speak for others here but the unending amounts of spam/scam texts and calls from random numbers probably does not help that situation.
I discussed this a bit with others after posting my comment and learned that the spam thing is a serious problem in the US. I don’t know what causes the difference but it’s less of a problem here. Looking at my call history I have on average one unanswered call from an unfamiliar number (presumed spam) every eleven days this year, which is relatively minor. Spam texts even less so.
I agree. I’ve had the same number in Sweden for over twenty years, and only get a handful of spam calls per year. And I’m not particularly careful about giving out my number either.