Why Gen Z & Millennials are hung up on answering the phone

I don't think anyone answers the phone now, unless they recognize the number.
Most of the calls I get are
spam
spam
someone sent me a time sensitive message, so they ring me once to respond faster
spam
- Yeah, I'm early gen-x and I only answer the phone if its a member of my immediate family and even then it's 50/50. Capitalism ruins everything. Need to talk to me? Leave a message and I'll decide if and when to call you back.
  
  Everyone I want to talk to knows not to call me; I feel exactly the same. Phones used to be useful, but the sheer volume of telemarketers and scams have reduced it to uselessness. If it wasn't for 2FA occasionally requiring a phone number, I wouldn't even have one at this point.
- American? I'm from The Netherlands and I get maybe 1 spam call every other month or so. And I've been using the same number for almost 25 years.
  
  Must be nice to a functional telecommunications agency that has the tools to punish soammers.
  
  Canada, we face the same issues as the US for telecom stuff
- Settings>Do not disturb>exceptions>Caller in contacts
  alt: Set default ringtone to silent, no vibration, Set people in contacts to custom ringtones.
  
  in ios there is a phone app setting to silence unknown callers.
  
  Also on iOS: Settings > Phone > Silence Unknown Callers
- Lucky me I rarely get spam calls

- This is part of the problem for me. I can't dismiss the popup unless I hang up, and I don't want to do that in case my number gets marked as "active".
  So I sit there and wait till I can use it again.
  Also I appreciate the detailed alt text :)
  
  at least on iphone you can swipe away the notification without hanging up.
  
  Press the volume down button. This will immediately silence the call without hanging up.
  
  Yet Another Call Blocker solves that problem.
  I send all calls other than contacts directly to voice mail, and my phone never even rings.
- This is soo me! Declining the call would pull more attention. I play dead.
  
  Let it ring. Robocall centers only work when they maximize volume, the more time they spend not getting an answer the more money they're not making. If you wanna get real saucy, wait as long as you can, accept the call, say nothing or mute your mic. They wont spend more than 5-10 seconds before they hang up on you though because they know it too.
  
  Press the volume down button. This will immediately silence the call without hanging up.
- That's why I just block all calls and send them to voicemail.
  If we need a phone call, we'll schedule it, and we'll be using an app.

I am Gen X (1970 give or take a couple of years) and I don't answer shit. I look up numbers and rarely listen to Voicemails. If you know me and I want to talk to you, you will know how to reach me. Everyone else can get fucked.
I think it's less generational and more fuck all this spam and scams.
- I'm the same generation. My flowchart is: known contact, answer. Unknown contact, voicemail. Automatic VM transcriptions are great.
- Gen X'er. Same here. I don't even leave the ringer turned on on my phone. Fuck that shit. If you know me too know how to find me.
- in my voicemail greeting i tell people to text or email me.

A recent survey found a quarter of people aged 18 to 34 never answer the phone - respondents say they ignore the ringing, respond via text or search the number online if they don't recognise it.
As they should.

"A voice note is just like talking on the phone but better," says Susie Jones, a 19-year-old student. "You get the benefits of hearing your friend's voice but comes with no pressures so it's a more polite way of communicating".
Gross, voice notes are the worst of both worlds.
Text for things that are information critical, phone calls for things that are time critical.
Email for business (and keep the original chain going instead of starting a new one every time you think of something else to add!), text messages for associates, chat apps for friends and family.
Anyone who disagrees is wrong.
- Yeah, voice notes are the “your solution to your problem is somewhere in the middle of this 20 minute long YouTube video that could have been a short forum post with some screenshots instead” of the communication world.
  
  Jesus, it's not just me! It seems like every answer I need is only found in a video format without labeled bookmarks/sections. I hate it so much. Give me a how-to with concise instructions and gifs, or give me death.
- I've actively told any friend that send me a voice note that if you want me to respond to you don't send it as a voice note, I won't listen to it. It requires me to put headphones in or play it on speaker, and neither of those are happening unless it's important.
  hard agree, voice messages are the worst of both worlds, you can't look at it and get the gist of what's said, and you have to deal with listening to it, while requiring more bandwidth to use.
  I've told my friends instead of pressing the voice button, just press the speech to text button, I'm more likely to read a wall of text than listen to a voice message.
- Voice notes are pretty great when you're driving.
- They are the worst unless you want to hear that person's voice.
- I mostly agree, but I think voice notes for close friends/family probably have a point.
  At this point, I would also argue that texts/emails are also for time critical things since voice calls are essentially dead at this point.
  99.99999% of the phone calls I get are spam. I haven't gotten a new voice mail in like 6 months.

Both phone calls and emails are so full of ad-ridden garbage that they are useless for communication.
Texts are better signal-to-noise ratio, for me it is more like only 1% con artist identity thieves compared to the 99% coming via phone call.
- I don't know if phone call spam is only an American thing or something. In my country (and most of Europe) that stuff is effectively banned and doesn't really happen.
  Still hate getting calls though.
  
  having proper bans in place do help, cutting number spoofing and rooting out local spam sources + barring voips that facilitate them means spam callers would have to connect internationally and cost more.

I can't speak for others but as an older millennial, I grew up liking spending time on the phone with friends and loved ones. However in my adult life, I spent being anxious waiting for phone calls regarding job interviews and outcomes of them, and even being interviewed on some of them, including those without much notice. I also had to make calls to follow up things urgently or if I'm in trouble. As a result, I started to equate phone calls as mostly negative experiences.

Spam has destroyed the phonecall. I screen everything and people know to text me first.
Besides its rude to think you can just interrupt someone in the middle of what they are doing without asking via text first anyway.
- I view phoning someone like popping over to their house and knocking on the door to chat with no prior warning. No one likes that.
- I've been nervous of phoning people since long before cellphones were invented, precisely because it always seemed rude to make someone's phone ring and demand a conversation when they're in the middle of whatever they're doing. It's interesting to see more people coming to see it like this.
  
  I would flat out ignore the pony express rider when he came galloping up with all that noise and dust. Who does he think he is?

If you call me and don't leave a voice mail message or text... Your effectively spam.
- You’re* effectively spam

It's pretty obvious why lol.
90% of the calls I receive are spam.
Calling demands that I pick up the phone RIGHT THE FUCK NOW. removed, if it ain't a life threatening emergency I'm not dropping everything I'm working on for you.
Texting allows me to respond when it's convenient for me.
Text generally takes 3 seconds to get the point across instead of having a whole conversation about it
- God, or worse, a conversation around the conversation you're actually speaking in order to have

99% of phone calls is typically a capitalistic company forcing employees to sell us something.
So yes... I'm not gonna pick up. Leave a voicemail 👍
- 99% of phone calls is typically a capitalistic company ~~forcing employees~~ using chatbots to sell us something.
  employees are so 2010, FIFY

Everyone I need to talk to is in my contacts. If you're not in my contacts, my phone doesn't even ring. You go straight to voicemail.
I was fine with phone calls when I was younger. Now it's mostly spam robocalls or scammers or both. Nobody seems interested in solving those problems.
- I am interested in solving them. Here's how: if you get any phone call that makes you even the slightest bit irritated, you hit a button and receive a quarter paid by the caller. This is traced through carriers. If the trace cannot continue for any reason or exits US jurisdiction, the most recent carrier foots the bill. I guarantee that spam calls will suddenly cease to exist overnight.
  
  I like the way you think.
  This kind of approach solves so many problems, as the vendors have a vested interest

Meanwhile, boomers will spend hours talking to a ChatGPT script that has convinced them its the real Oprah Winfrey.
- hahahahaha im dying idk why youre getting downvoted
  
  Well obvs the bots got offended

honestly i think this is due to unplanned voice calls essentially being broken technology now.
imagine we had 2020s email spammers while mail servers had 1990s spam filters, that's basically where we're at now with unplanned voice.

Texting is also damn convenient, I can deal with several conversations at once without having to pause the movie I'm watching.
Speaking on the phone doesn't just tie your line, it ties your whole life too.
- Another advantage of text, for me at least, is that I can read much faster than I can listen. This is why I prefer text articles to news videos, even though video can often offer extra visual information over what photographs can offer.
  That said, I do somewhat agree with the article's concern that live conversation is an independent skill and potentially has its own unique side-benefits that might be becoming rarer.
- Sure works wonders if you're busy with a chore. Laundry? Dishwashing (for the unfortunate souls without easy access to a dishwasher)? That's the best time to call any yakker you know!

I'm an older millennial. I enjoyed talking on the phone until I was something like 12. Texting wasn't a big thing yet then, but messengers on the internet were. So I realized there were better ways of communicating.
When I was in college, I was hit by a car. I was poor and had no health insurance. That led to endless calls from debt collectors. That led to anxiety related to the sound of a phone ringing. I have not answered the phone to unknown numbers since then. My life is better for it.
I only occasionally listen to voicemail, and most of the time, it's a doctor's appointment automated reminder. The rest of the time, it's usually spam. No point listening.
Anyone who knows me and needs or wants to get in touch with me knows how to do so and knows not to do so by phone call. Anyone else is unimportant.
- Also older millennial. I found a two minute star wars themed wait message that i recorded and am using. The number of VMs from spam I receive is practically zero. Number of VMs from Publishers Clearing? Unfortunately also zero.
  
  Brilliant!

There is a setting in iphone that i enabled to silence unknown caller. Havent turn it off since i enable it. I usually ignore anyone who isnt in my contacts.
- Its a great feature but I'll do you one better (or orthogonal):
  There are apps that let you set block ranges so when you get a million calls from variations of something like 1-876-543-2109, you can block all of them with basically whatever granularity you need 1+ digits) It should be built in but you have to buy it for like $3-4, but absolutely worth it
- I have kids and sometimes it's important thing from a doctor/school/whatever that I want to get.
  However, I'm lucky that my cell phone area code is nowhere near where I live, so if I see an area code near my phones area code, I know it's almost certainly spam. If I get a call from near where I live, its almost certainly legitimate.

Eh. Gen-x here. I still have an hour long phonecall over signal with my best friend over signal two times a week or so.
In my teens I wasn't too happy about making phonecalls either, but working on a helpdesk for a while sure cured that.
On the other hand, I live in a country with consumer protection, so robocalls are not a thing. And I'd strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger (and GDPR) those companies who attempt to poison and destroy my personal attention.
- The US has a do not call list. The vast majority of robocalls are illegal scams which originate from outside of the country.
  
  Even worse, many of those scammy companies use the Do Not Call list as a list of known active numbers. Since the DNC is an opt-in thing, the call centers know that people have proactively added their numbers to the list.
  
  Canada as well.
  
  So those calls are not for the benefit of US companies?

I can't trust phone calls these days. Even if it's a number that I recognize, there's still a chance it could be a scammer spoofing the number. That happened to me once where someone spoofed my credit union's number to try give them my money to protect my account.

I always answer the phone.
Because if you're not in my contacts my phone doesn't even ring.
- This. I just set my phone to Do not disturb and only the calls from my contacts list are exempted.
  
  in ios the phone app has a setting to silence unknown callers.

People answer phones?
It's a meme among people that know me that you pretty much have to leave a message if a text won't do. I genuinely can't remember the last phone call I answered. Thinking back, it was when my dad was having surgery, and they give calls with updates. That was maybe three years ago?
But I've been doing that since I got my first answering machine back in the nineties. I fucking hate talking on the phone. Even as a teenager, if it wasn't someone I was having sex with, it wasn't going to be a long call. The only exceptions were my two best friends, and my grandmother. One grandmother just didn't call to chat. The other only called rarely, and you don't fucking ignore your grandmother. Neither grandfather was going to call either. My mom's dad would drive over if he wanted to talk about something with one of us. The other was dead.
There are two people I would answer a call from, my wife and my best friend. But they'd never call outside of an emergency because they know I hate phones for talking. I probably would for my dad, but he hates phones almost as much as I do.

If: you're a starred contact and call twice within 10 minutes and I happen to have the phone at hand and I'm pretty sure you have something important to say I'll probably pick it up.
That happens about once or twice a year. We invented voicemail so we can speak when it works well for both parties.

I literally don't set up my voicemail, and I typically don't listen to recorded audio that gets messaged to me. Texting is functional and doesn't leave me some anxiety-provoking message that I have to sit through and digest without saying anything. If a conversation needs to happen in voice, text to say that and see if it's a good time.
Wild that people just ring a personal phone number unprompted in 2024 without that being an established routine.
That said, I also remember when it wasn't at all weird to show up to someone's house and knock on their door. Things have really changed.

"It's the anxiety associated with real-time conversations, potential awkwardness, not having the answers and the pressure to respond immediately" - this hits the nail on the head for me about not wanting to be on the phone/teams call in the work place. Being pulled into a call with no context is my biggest nightmare.

I'm a millennial and I would rather communicate by phone for information dense things. It takes me forever to type things out on this tiny keyboard. I am a verbal processor though.That said I do ignore calls unless I know who you are or I see that's its a work number. Ultimately, I think having both handy is useful. Text can be very useful when you want somebody to remember something or vice versa. It's also quick when you are saying something simple.

I don’t mind a ‘phone call’ so long as it isn’t actually using a phone number where ISPs can spy, but using some encrypted service.

I get called like once or twice a week, and it's usually something time sensitive or important. Always found people just flat out refusing to answer the phone crazy.

I prefer text for simple messages but I prrfer the phone for longer communication... Im 70

I mean, maybe a hot take, maybe not … casual/social voice conversations at a distance were never a good idea in the first place.
Not absolutely at least. A disconnected voice that can summon your attention at any time wherever you are is a weird, uncomfortable, unpleasant and maybe unhealthy thing.
Textual communication at a distance odd much more natural, as it matches the disconnected communication with a more formal and abstract medium.

I don't really get the whole not answering the phone thing. I hate phonecalls but I always answer my phone.
The amount of important calls I'd have missed if I buried my head in the sand like that is insane.
Sure if 90% of the calls were sales or scams I'd think differently, but there are ways to prevent that too.
I find it weird that everyone has their phone on silent all the time too. If mine was on silent I'd never look at it unless I'm bored.
- Important news almost never comes via phone call. It comes in the mail or via email.
  
  Tell that to the delivery driver that called me because they were outside with my groceries.