6 ms·
Personal anecdote... after a 77-year old lady who was a family friend lost her husband of 45 years, I called once a year on her birthday to check up on her. At
by jasode 7y ago
Personal anecdote... after a 77-year old lady who was a family friend lost her husband of 45 years, I called once a year on her birthday to check up on her. At first she seemed to really appreciate it. But in the 3rd year, it took 20+ rings which concerned me. When she finally answered, she said, "Oh it's you! Oh how are you!!! You know, you can just text me!"
I took the hint. Think about that... a 77-year old was lecturing me to use the newer fangled texting technology.
In addition to the convenience of multitasking, the issue is that robocalls have made everyone wary of answering their phones.
ETA: forgot to add some color context. My personal rule is to never call anybody and only text. I only made an exception for the 77-year friend because I thought she was "old school" and would prefer a real phone call. I was proven wrong. I still chuckle about not seeing how pervasive the norms can change.
- jdofaz 7y agoWas it a land line? I've noticed people who still have them tend to ignore them because they get so many spam calls.
- kemiller2002 7y agoMy dad is he same way, and he's 81. He hates talking on the phone. He doesn't like to bother people unless its important and that way they can get back to him when it's convenient. This way too, he won't miss the message if he doesn't hear the phone.
- jmg2 7y agoFlip side, people expect on demand real time synchronous corresponding talk from their called party. My mother's younger brother announced his alzheimer's had truly manifest, by freaking when, perfectly in character, my mother didn't need his calls. We had the proverbial phone in the shower/bath. Although it wasn't nece(till too late) for me to be present, I moved my office complete with redundant paths to go diverse exchange private copper pairs, to the apartment my mom wanted to be in and not sell, for a view is immune to the seasons, I later realized, and our telecom and related facilities were hilariously overkill. (Semi retirement sucks because of excessive choice. Azure Cognitive Services plus hobby time too easily could be a veritable busfor seniors attending. ) Anyhow alarm was unnecessarily raised and the British "elf an saiyftie" was still a dust cloud unsettled when a man appeared at the door asking innumerable questions about my mother. The social worker I greeted defrauded abused and all but killed my mother while protected from justice by countless departments of the bloated British government. With warrantless surveillance OPEN to social workers in the UK, I have lost business deals, sens startup with branding I habitually photographed from my wall/whiteboard, down to the da## pantone. Sorry, getting all emotional there, but please think thru everything you rely on assumptively, as exhaustively as you would at least fuzz your code...
- jacobush 7y agoI don't understand anything about this. It makes vague sense to me if I replace "need" with "heed". But not much.
- droithomme 7y agoI personally hate texting, and before this, IRC. I also don't do Facebook or have an account there. I keep in touch with a handful of elderly relatives and friends via a phone call a few times a year. If they were to tell me to text them or hit them up on Facebook instead and phone is simply unacceptable to them (unlikely and has never happened), then that's their choice and I respect it completely, and it certainly will be the end of our communication if they insist on that since I don't do Facebook and I don't text. Snail mailed letters... I can and do do these for those who don't want phone calls.
- marblar 7y agoI usually text first to coordinate a phone call.