Am I the only person here who has an aversion to answering/talking on the phone???

[dixiegrrrrl]

Reason..years and years and years of night crisis call work, to the point where I started to twitch when the phone rang.

Email....great.
local calls of necessity for business appts....ok...sigh.
yakking on the phone....not if I can help it.


Anyone else????

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. I've always hated it. nt

[Hoyt]

2. Same here. Much prefer to talk face to face.

I'd be mismatched in a job that required a lot of phone contact.

Used to be much worse, would drive across town to see if a store had a product in stock. Don't do that much anymore.

Love email.

[uriel1972]

18. Pretty much the same

always hated the phone, if I want to talk to someone I'd see them face to face.

[alarimer]

3. No, I prefer email to phone calls.

I will actively avoid calling anyone on the phone.

[OriginalGeek]

4. No you are not.

I talk (some) on the phone for work because I have to and I actually like my job so I'll talk when I absolutely have to. But if it ain't work related, I might as well not even have a phone. I won't answer it while driving. I won't answer it while sitting and watching TV or eating. I won't answer it while in the can. I hate even holding it up to my head so if, by some miracle you got me to answer (generally wife answers and then makes me take it) you best be brief, concise and to the point. If you just wanna chat, hang on, *hands phone to wife*...

I am fully capable of ignoring a ringing phone for hours. My gmail will read my voicemails to me. I screen all calls and never answer blocked/hidden numbers and rarely answer friends and loved ones. My wife has taken to sending a short text message in lieu of calling and that's just one of the many reasons I love her.

The only exception is my Grandpa. He'll be 92 in May and there's nothing I won't do for him and that even includes talking on the phone. Fortunately, he likes the phone about as much as I do. lol

[lastlib]

5. Nope, I absolutely dread it.

Had a job where I was doing lots of cold calling, and frequently got cussed at, shouted at, hung up on, threatened, you name it. Developed a phobia for using the phone.

[RevStPatrick]

6. I'm deaf in one ear...

...and talking on the phone has always made me feel uncomfortable.

When I was a late teenager, I overheard my mom on the phone with a friend of hers.
She was saying something along the lines of "Patrick is great when it comes to the telephone! A friend will call, he'll make plans and hang up. No long chit-chat with his girlfriends. We were thinking we would have to get a second line, but there's no need for it..."

I also can't stand headphones, and particularly earbuds.
I've had 3 or 4 iPods over the years, and I never use them.
Walking down the street without being able to hear traffic and other street noise just seems bizarre to me, and I can't understand how anyone can do that!

[pipi_k]

28. Same thing...

I have partial deafness in my left ear, so I use a headset in my right ear, but even then if the person on the other end doesn't speak loudly enough, or speaks too quickly, it makes me crazy.

I prefer doing online/email stuff when I have to contact my bank or a business about a problem with something I ordered.

[BlueJazz]

7. Don't like talking on the phone that much. I can talk to friends all night long but...

...get me on the phone ??...nope...want the conversation to end.

[hepkat]

8. not alone

I like email the best. I dislike talking on the phone and texting.

[LiberalEsto]

9. I call it phone-itis

After spending many years interviewing people as a reporter, being yelled at by irate readers, hounded by editors and so much more, I discovered that I'm sick and tired of answering the phone. Robo-calls and sales calls make it worse.

You are definitely not alone, dixiegrrrrl

[LeftofObama]

10. Hate it!

Last month I used a total of 22 minutes. I just checked and so far this month I have used 12 minutes. I usually let it go to voice mail and if it's important enough I will call them back, if not I'll wait til I see them face to face.

[KamaAina]

11. Nope.

I make everyone email me at work if at all possible.

An hour on Sunday afternoon with Mom is about it.

[ConcernedCanuk]

12. Hell no

.
.
.

If I don't feel in the mood to talk to someone

just not interrupt whatever I'm doing

I have no guilt in not answering the call.

'tis MY life

if I'm in a zone that precludes interruption

my apologies

call back

or not

[In_The_Wind]

55. I never answer the phone until I look at the caller ID.

oh and then, I still might not.

[ismnotwasm]

13. Hate it

I'm not overly fond fond of texting either, but its better than the phone. I'm not good with chit-chat, and I like my quiet time

[Gorp]

14. I answer in foreign languages - with rude language.

[riderinthestorm]

15. I'm with you on this one. Phone calls are not usually a good thing for me

I'm always wary when the phone rings....

[DearHeart]

16. Nope! Can't stand it actually.

From years of retail...talking with angry customers, with obnoxious vendors, etc.

Dont really like talking on the phone with relatives or friends. Prefer emails.

[treestar]

30. I loathe arguments on the phone

In fact, similar experience is why I hate it.

[becca da bakkah]

17. I Hate Phones So Much.....

I have never, ever, owned a cell phone! Give me email anytime. Other than having a land-line phone, because my autistic daughter is in a group home, I'd probably not even bother with one. I screen all my calls with my answering machine. If it's important, I'll pick up. Otherwise.....fuck off!

NOT that I'm antisocial, or anything like that....you understand!

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. I am only anti-social with most people....

Glad you mentioned cell phones.
Mr. Dixie got his cell phone and *surprised* me with one...
"It didn't cost hardly anything to add a 2nd cell to the account, and you get something like 4,000 free minutes, and..."
7 years ago.
It is still sitting in a drawer somewhere in the house.

I go to the grocery store and practically everyone is wandering the aisles glued to a cell phone,
standing in checkout lines glued to a cell phone, driving off in their cars glued to a cellphone,
and I feel like an alien because I... DO.. NOT ....FREAKING.... GET... IT!

When do people have time to just sit and think, and read, and quietly putter about?

[GoCubsGo]

19. Count me among those who detest it.

It's for many of the reasons stated here. I also abhor playing telephone tag.

[angstlessk]

20. I used to be of the thought that if the phone rings...answer it...

and see folks on teevee still doing that...but when I was about 40 or so..I quit answering the phone...depended on the answering machines..then caller ID

[agracie]

21. I can ignore a ringing phone 'til the proverbial cows come home. A phone can be so...

intrusive if you let it. I do not let it.

[KatyaR]

23. I HATE the telephone.

I have a home phone but it's always turned off. The six people who have my cell phone number only call me rarely, so I don't use it much, either. When it rings, I always absolutely HATE IT. And at work--most of the time, if it's an outside call, I'll send it to voice mail, I hate it that much.

I hate Alexander Graham Bell....

[texanwitch]

25. I have always hated talking on the phone.

I do have a smart phone but that is for the internet, not for talking.

It seems like the phone always rings at the worst times.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. I absolutely prefer face-to-face, especially for a complicated conversation

I NEVER call someone up just to talk, and apparently most of my friends are that way, too. I'd say that over half the time my phone rings it's robocalls.

[pipi_k]

27. Not the only one, and in fact...

for years and years I had an actual phobia of talking on the phone...especially if I had to make a phone call to someone.

But I had a couple of jobs where that was necessary, and I did it.

At work.

At home, I was just as paralyzed as ever.


Anyway, I realized that one problem I had with being on the phone was the trapped feeling I got having to hold the phone, and being connected by a wire.

Cordless phones solved one problem.

Then cell phones.

And now with Bluetooth I don't even have to hold the damned thing.

But yeah...telephone is not my favorite means of communication.

[treestar]

29. No. Email is the greatest invention.

I like texting too. Makes people get to the point.

[femmocrat]

31. No, you are not!

I consider it a form of torture. I'm not even much of an e-mailer.

[Texasgal]

32. I'm starting to prefer text more and more myself.

I hear you.

More times than not I end up turning the ringer off of my home phone, although my Mother just had open heart surgery so I've left the ringer on for a week or so.

[triguy46]

33. I hate it, but, as a compromise...

I will converse. But generally in monosyllables. Yes. No. OK. And only briefly.

Then after an excruciating 20 seconds I will say "Let me get your mom on the phone."

[ucralum]

34. No!

Hate talking on the phone. Much prefer email or text--and I'm no spring chicken. Doesn't help that my mother-in-law always told me I didn't sound well and demanded to know if I was sick. I solved that problem; I don't talk to her on the phone anymore.

[2theleft]

35. Hate, hate, hate it.

I used to not mind it, but for some reason since I hit 40 I would rather do just about anything than talk on the phone. Maybe because my job requires endless hours of meetings, tons of conference calls?? I don't know, but I am so glad texting was invented. Need something, text it in a few words, I will answer. Want to catch up? e-mail me. I will e-mail back.

[Agschmid]

36. I have a huge aversion.

No really legitimate reason, but people are always telling me I am rushing them off the phone.

[Solly Mack]

37. I don't like answering the phone.

I rarely get to the talking stage. lol

Not thrilled about my doorbell ringing either.

[vanlassie]

38. I took over a quarter of a million calls

In twelve years in a call center. I am generally annoyed when my home phone rings these days. But I love my cell phone. Only people I WANT to hear from can call it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

50. "Only people I WANT to hear from can call it. "

So far.
Apparently some robocalls are sneaking in.

[vanlassie]

52. Bastards.

[mrmpa]

39. There's a quote from the play/film, First Monday in October...........

Walter Matthau plays a liberal Supreme Court Justice and Jill Clayburgh plays the first woman Supreme Court Justice who happens to be a conservative.

Matthau's character is in his office arguing with Clayburgh, the phone s ringing off the wall,

Clayburgh: "Aren't you going to answer the phone?"
Matthau: "The phone doesn't have a constituitonal right to be answered."

I use Matthau's line quite often.

[dixiegrrrrl]

51. Ohhh..I LIKE that!

I suspect there is a high correlation between a desire for privacy and a dislike of answering phone calls.
Both have obtrusiveness as a common factor.

[AsahinaKimi]

40. I have a regular cellphone

and a land line. I only use the land line for the computer. The cell gets calls occasionally but I mostly use it for ordering food for delivery. We have some of the best Asian Restaurants around here who do deliver, yes even Dim sum and Sushi.

[KC]

41. Working for

years in a call center and being tied to their phone cured me of ever wanting to talk on any phone! I absolutely hate talking on a phone!

[No Vested Interest]

42. I'm a night-owl

The worst is early morning calls, when the rest of the world is starting their day, and I , intending to sleep a few more hours, am awakened by a ringing phone.
Of course, after that, even if I don't answer, it's hard to get back into that deep sleep.

I could go on.........

[dixiegrrrrl]

53. I used to unplug the phone when I slept.

I was on "swing shift" for decades, and still am a night owl.
Like you, once I was awake, I can not sleep again.
So back before answering machines, I unplugged the phone, and made sure people knew not to call before noon.

I think it is the whole idea of "MUST.....answer....ringing....phone" that I object to.

[union_maid]

43. It's amazing what you can find out in this lounge

I find out that there are others who prefer it when the sun doesn't shine and now I find out that I'm not the only one who doesn't much like talking on the phone. Text messaging is the best invention in the world, I think. Sometimes voice calls are really necessary, but I much prefer texting and then going into more detail in e-mail.

[hobbit709]

44. doesn't bother me.

I enjoy talking to people I want to talk to.
The ones I don't want to talk to, I enjoy being rude to- like telemarketers and bill collectors.

[rurallib]

45. And I thought I was the only one

obviously, many others spent years getting calls that made them cringe. Therefore no desire to answer when the phone rings.

My story is one of being a computer baby sitter and troubleshooter. By the time I was getting called things were really hosed. Since it was a production facility, if production stopped all the mini-emporers were on my ass to get running immediately. And few cared what they said to me. It would get ugly sometimes.

Emails weren't a lot better.

[livetohike]

46. Same here. I don't know when it started, or why, but I dislike talking on the phone

I call my elderly Mom every other day to check up on her, but we don't talk long. Otherwise, I cringe when the phone rings, hoping it is not someone who wants to talk for a long time.

[bigwillq]

47. I only like talking on the phone when I want to.

Other than that, I don't want to be bothered. I hate when my house phone rings because I know it's some stupid telemarketer. None of my friends ever call me on the house phone. I hate the sound of the house phone ringing. I sometimes turn the ringer off. I have caller id but the ringing...so annoying.

[Sophiegirl]

48. If I don't recognize the number..

I don't answer. If it is important, the caller will leave a message. Otherwise, I don't care.

[mnhtnbb]

49. No. I'd rather e-mail or see someone in person. Have never liked the phone.

[nadine_mn]

54. I have phone-phobia in many ways

I have no problem answering calls when I worked as an domestic violence advocate or other work calls.

But MAKING calls always makes me feel icka - I end up putting off making appts and stuff. Luckily my husband is understanding and makes a lot of calls for me.

I hate talking on the phone - even when friends and family call.

Face to face visits - great

email - even better

You are not alone

[raccoon]

56. I much prefer face-to-face. On the phone you can't see the person's body language.

And as Kinsey Millhone said, it's easier for people to lie on the phone.

[kcass1954]

57. I don't mind it, most of the time.

But I'm on the phone a lot at work, and when I have a day like the last few, I don't want to talk to anyone when I get home. (My 5-person department has had only 3 of us present so far this week, with a crabby manager griping about phone messages.)

One of my problems is that almost none of my friends text. Seriously. Even the ones with smart phones. And a good number of them don't check their email on a regular basis.

[glinda]

58. Husband almost has phobia about it.

Kind of sad since then I have to do it and I don't like to either.

[Honeycombe8]

59. Nope. I'm a phone talker. I almost always ans. the ph, when it's a personal call.

I don't like phoning to do business at work because it takes too long. I prefer e-mails. But in my personal life, I'm almost always up for a chat. And friends will call with problems or whatever. My family is out of state, so a phone call is necessary for personal contact.