Jen over at Blag Hag recently came clean about her massive anxiety over talking on the phone.  Boy, can I relate.  I don’t think I’m as bad as poor Jen, but I can identify with every point she makes to some extent or another.

I did not get a cell phone until long after they were in vogue.  Why would I want to pay double for another device that I don’t want to use in the first place all give other people the privilege of contacting me at times when I don’t want to be contacted?  I had the same issue with text messaging for a long time.  I refused to get it on the principle that I don’t want people I am not hanging out with to be able to be in instant contact with me.  Obviously, that changed when I realized that cell phones were practically a necessity and texting could easily replace a phone call.

As far as I know, my entire family has this anxiety.  You should witness the conversations my brother and I have on the phone.  “Hello?” “Hey, movie Sunday?” “Sure.” “Movie X is showing at Y.” “Sounds good.”  “Ok, bye.” “Bye.”  We rarely do anything except text these days.  Same holds true of Mom.  The minute she got a phone with texting, she picked it up like she had been doing it her entire life and left phone calls only for special occasions.

Besides the general anxiety, the thing that bothers me the most about phone calls is that they feel like trying to talk to someone while partially deaf and completely blind.  Hearing modulated snippets of someone’s voice and not being able to visualize body language and facial expressions is beyond frustrating for me.

Maybe when holographic conferencing becomes common place I’ll change my mind about phone calls.  Till then, don’t call me, I won’t call you.