I hate telephone conversations. (Especially if there is something important to be decided by them) Unlike some lucky people I don’t have the faculty to make good decisions and exercise good judgement on the fly/in ‘real time’. An ended phone conversation is never a triumph. It is only ever a relief it’s over, and that the fine-tuning, correcting, apologising can now be done via email (often with dishonest opening statements - “Further to our telephone conversation”)
I love email because you have as much time as is required to edit every bit of what you say. Even if you are an impatient person with a happy submit-finger you still have more time than you would if it were a phone call.
On the phone I come across as nervous, weak, overly agreeing. In emails I come across as more authoritative, expert, polite, and correct than I do in real time conversation. (My brother once expressed surprise at reading my CV by saying “I had no idea you were this articulate. To hear you speak you’d never know you were capable”. The brother in question is someone I have always admired for his knack for articulation in speech)
email is free
email is a more or less permanent record - phone calls can go in one ear and spill right out the other, and any notes I might take will probably get lost.
Forgot to say:
email doesn’t care what time it is - all of my family is several time zones away, so it’s always the guessing game of “are they eating dinner?” “Are they still awake?” and no small amount of my business contacts are on other continents.
I loathe talking on the phone. I call the LabRat once a week on Saturday night to let him know when I’m getting off work. The rest of our communication is either face to face or email. Most of my phone calls to family are 10 minutes or less, with the majority being 5 minutes or less, and they are of the once a month variety. Work phone calls are short and to the point as well.
I also prefer email. I’m terrible when put on the spot (you should hear how horrible my voicemail messages are!), and mildly phobic about calling strangers, such as receptionists, in general.
I have two voicemails I’ve been putting off returning since Monday, and I’ve been trying not to think about having to bite the bullet tomorrow.
I’m another one who hates the phone. My friends and family nag me to no end about never answering my phone or returning calls. I would much rather people just e-mail me! Or if it’s urgent, I’d prefer a text message. I hate talking on the phone and being a slave to having to answer my phone whenever it rings. To me, talking on the phone is awkward at best and sometimes makes me very nervous, even if it’s someone I am close to. Although, in person I am usually very talkative and outgoing.
Like Risha, I am also phobic about calling strangers or answering the phone if it’s number I don’t recognize.
Like I said, everyone gives me major shit about my bad phone habits. What should I say to them to get them off my back?
I hate the phone. A lot. I have to make a lot of calls to strangers at my internship, and I end up crying at my desk at least once a week. I literally feel sick to my stomach, and when I finally do call the person, I’m lucky if I don’t end up tripping over my tongue and sounding stupid. That’s why I never went to the doctor when I had insurance – just the thought of calling for an appointment made me sick.
I blame my mother, who made no secret about her phone phobia. Although blaming my mother doesn’t help with the fact that fear of strangers means I’m not suited to the career I chose (journalism), which means finding a generic office job or going back to selling dinnerware to diplomats’ wives after college.
I have no problem talking to family and very close friends. Ironically, my cell phone and I are inseparable, which is probably because it’s a Blackberry and I can send e-mail with it.
I could have written the OP. I totally freeze up on the spot and vastly prefer time to prepare data before responding in an e-mail. I actually almost resent people who expect an instant answer to something that needs research–I don’t want to keep them sitting on the phone while I run reports, but that’s what’s needed.
I’m similar. I far prefer e-mailing someone I don’t know well to phoning that same person; I worry that I’ll sound like a “goof” on the phone. I also typically spend a lot of time composing an e-mail message, even if it is just to a friend.
I guess the only difference in my case is that I’ve had enough people reassure me that I sound fine on the phone that intellectually I know that I (usually) don’t sound nervous/weak/overly agreeing on the phone; doesn’t stop me from worrying about it!
From what I’ve read on these boards, Lobsang, I am having a hard time conceiving of you being “nervous, weak, overly agreeing.” This, of course, proves your point.
I won’t talk on the phone unless I’m absolutely forced to do so. I can’t hear very well on these newfangled electronic phones, and I especially can’t hear you when you’re calling me from your car on the interstate next to the airport. If I didn’t need a phone line for work, I’d just get rid of the blasted thing. As it is, the answering machine picks up whatever calls come in, and I answer anything important via email, when possible.
Of course, I’m a typist by trade, so email and IM/texting are pretty much the same as talking.
More often than not, I’d rather email.