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Don't Hate the Phone Call, Hate the Phone (And the Network)
Ever screamed at your phone, or wanted to, when it can't handle the basic job of linking you to another person by voice? antdude writes to say that The Atlantic has posted a long article titled "Don't Hate the Phone Call, Hate the Phone" about how our telephone habits have changed, but so have the infrastructure and design of the handset. A snippet: When you combine the seemingly haphazard reliability of a voice call with the sense of urgency or gravity that would recommend a phone call instead of a Slack DM or an email, the risk of failure amplifies the anxiety of unfamiliarity. Telephone calls now exude untrustworthiness from their very infrastructure.
Going deeper than dropped connections, telephony suffered from audio-signal processing compromises long before cellular service came along, but the differences between mobile and landline phone usage amplifies those challenges, as well.
Better option than that rant: use the right tool for the job!
Single quick question? text it.
Long data dump? email it.
Sequence of questions that will probably need additional clarification? call.
Need to REALLY get across the level of rage you feel at [worthless local monopoly ISP]? call, explain to the helpless impotent call center slave that your gripe is with someone else (in that fun tone of "if you slow me down at all, you'll be getting a shouting also"), let the bad call waiting music choice fuel your anger, get to someone with at least a shred of influence, unleash your hatred, MAKE THEM FEAR YOU!
I can't remember having had any trouble making a phone call and have never had a connection dropped, so I'm wondering what this article is about.
It's "about" a weak premise to try generate some buzz for a messaging platform no one has ever heard of or cares about.
#DeleteChrome
As someone who is just a little older than you mellenials, I can't understand why you don't like the phone. Actually I can't even understand why you don't like voice mail.
You mention your parents and wanting to hear their voice, you don't like to hear the voice of your friends too? I happen to like to be reminded that my friends and co-workers are real personal contacts that I have and different then people I interact with exclusively via text, like other slashdot users.
A lot gets said in a voice mail that won't be said in an e-mail. People are generally not good actors. I can get a lot extra information from a voice mail about how someone 'feels' about the subject that they many times would not write. I can also convey a lot of information like 'don't push this issue with boss, I'll fight you on this' that I would not want to commit to writing but will state thru tone, rate of speech, pronoun selection etc in voice mail or on a call. If your interaction with voice mail is through some terrible TUI I get that, but if you have visual voice mail or get it delivered to e-mail as sound clips, what is not to like? Combine that with options truly good voice mail systems have like speech-to-text so you can optionally read your voice mails for those situations where you can't listen them its even better.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
We have these devices in our pockets that connect us with the rest of the world instantaneously, the vast majority of people expect because they pay some kind of amount ever month that these things are supposed to work flawlessly every single time. This kind of thing was mind boggling a generation ago, even up until a few years ago if you wanted to be sure something got done, you had to talk to someone on the other end of the phone line, a delivery will be made, a bank account opened, etc. I get that younger generation grew up with pretty much instant gratification for everything, but that doesn't make it right. The technology has outpaced our ability to get used to it we basically went from sending smoke signals, to being connected to all the collective knowledge of humanity overnight, there is no wonder that people are complaining about stuff. Technology is not perfect, it will not work 100% of the time, there is not a machine built since the beginning of time that will, get over it. Very few people do not even realize what it takes to get they call to connect when it actually does work, that kind of thing was called magic a few years ago.
I'm not sure if I'm a "millennial" or not (born in 1980, which seems to be the cut-off, but nobody ever agrees what side of that cut-off it's on). But the fact is, I hate voicemail. Voicemail is an abomination. The sooner it dies a horrible, fiery death, the better.
I don't like to hear anyone's voice over the phone. It's tinny and muffled at the same time, making it hard to understand. I already know that people are real. I don't need to constantly keep in contact with their "realness". Text is just fine.
Nothing is useful about voicemail. People don't give you any information, so no nuance comes through. None of what you describe actually happens in a real voicemail. And those non-terrible ways of getting voicemail? Yeah, those cost extra. For something I already don't give a flying rat's ass about. Not happening.
tl;dr: FOADIAF, voicemail.
As a parent of a millennial, I force phone conversations.
Because Texting is utterly useless when all I get is..
Out of monE cn U snd me som
LOL
Yeah, dad is not sending crap until the phone rings.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
As a millenial, phonecalls never made sense to me.
Really? You never talk to anyone using your voice? Were you one of those kids who text messages the person sitting right next to you? I hate talking on the phone myself but there are plenty of times it is the most effective means of communication. It is far faster than email for many data dumps and it communicates emotion and nuance light years better. I type fast but I talk much faster. If I need to give you a core dump about an issue and deal with it quickly I'm probably going to call when typing would take too long.
Unless I actively want to hear your voice (my parents for example) then i have an infinite and vastly superior cadre of resources with which to communicate.
That depends very much on exactly what you are trying to communicate. Talking on the phone can be VASTLY faster and more effective than email, IM, twitter, facebook and other forms of communication in a lot of circumstances. Some things are difficult to communicate adequately via email. Asynchronous forms of communication are generally very impersonal, slow, and frankly I deal with enough email as it is. The last thing I want to do is spend more time emailing.
Another supreme irritation is when I email a person, but they call me back. maintain parity and answer the email.
Not everyone types very well. I work with several people who can't type quickly for various reasons. Sometimes calling is a faster way to address the problem. You might prefer email but your preferences are not the only ones that matter. I don't care for talking on the phone either but if it gets the job done, so what? I care that the problem gets handled, not the medium it gets handled through.
Accosting me for details just means im going to keep pointing you to the email.
At which point the other person will declare you to be an uncooperative jerk. I absolutely loathe talking on the phone but if I've bothered to pick up the phone and call you there is a damn good reason for it. Answer the call, be courteous and helpful. If you point me back to email when I've bothered to call you I'm probably going to get pissed off at you. If it is a telemarketer, hang up and block the number.
But phones? no. Voicemail hell no.
Voicemail has its place. I use google voice which records and transcribes the voicemails I get. The problem with voicemail isn't the actual message, it's the shitty interface that has been put on it traditionally. Now that I can quickly read my voicemails I rarely actually have to listen to them and voicemail has become fairly useful. Sometimes someone needs to reach you and email isn't the right format or maybe all they have is a phone number. Voice mail allows them to communicate with you when you can't take the call which is genuinely useful.
Conversely, one of the merits of email is that people can't do that - convey something and then deny it.
-Dave