I freakin' hate telephones, and I always have, and the Dowager Countess of Grantham was correct in surmising that they are torture devices of the highest calibe

I freakin' hate telephones, and I always have, and the Dowager Countess of Grantham was correct in surmising that they are torture devices of the highest caliber. I always try to prefer virtual meetings with video and all the trimmings, especially screen-share capability. If not, in-person. Telephoning is like a last resort. I've pondered using TTY/TDD even though I have no physical impairments, but most agencies seem hostile to that sort of barrier and most of the time, I find myself needing to pass voice-recognizing gatekeeper AIs first. When I was promoted to "sysadmin" in my first job they set me at a desk with a computer and a PBX telephone. (It was an office at a gov't defense contractor...) The computer I could relate to on an intimate level; the telephone scared the living bejesus out of me, and I prayed it never to ring. A disembodied voice in your ear, especially one that interrupts everything you're doing and demanding a real-time conversation across space and time, that's incredibly rude, yet normalized for 100 years. I have PTSD and other disabilities, and I can get completely rattled and downright hostile/aggro when someone calls me and I'm not prepared, I'm not at my desk, no notes in front of me, even if I'm relaxing at home I just can't deal. I may answer the phone while on a bus or train, but I certainly won't sustain a conversation that way. Outgoing calls are sometimes OK but often end in disaster as I become increasingly frustrated. Now it's not uncommon for someone who's standing at my front door to telephone me. What the hell, I'm less than 3 yards away in here, please don't send me across Cyberspace when you're manifesting in meatspace... On a phone call I have no idea what office I've reached, what is a person's job title or role with a company, what their face looks like, when they may be taking a breath or using other physical cues to aid the conversation. So much metadata is lost in phone conversations that they are wholly dehumanized and require a revolution in etiquette, just to keep the peace. Here's your uptalk origin: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb21lsCQ3EM&si=3j3bYd_0rPa8hcHR https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb21lsCQ3EM&si=3j3bYd_0rPa... "Valley Girl, she's a Valley Girl!" I'm not autistic and I can read expressions and body language, but perhaps autists are the evolutionary result of disembodied telephone conversations taking out the human element from verbal communication. It is simply amazing that even with apps and ubiquitous Internet and website portals that I still require the telephone to get important business done (and I'm always, always ticking "it's something else/other/Live Agent/Oh god this is an exception to all your rules please send me a human being").