Is it Goodbye to Emails?

[Roslynmuse]

Many TV phone-in programmes warn would-be callers that mobile calls could be much more expensive than landline.

I think that applies to certain types of phone numbers eg tv phone-in programmes! rather than simple mobile to mobile calls between friends and family, so I don't think that accounts for the decline in 'spoken' contact - I suspect it is something more fundamentally anti-social and we are not yet at a point when we can see the damage...

[kernelbogey]

I do wonder why phone calls have fallen into such decline. I sometimes hesitate to ring someone because they may be busy, whilst they can access an email etc at any time that is convenient for them.

This seems to have become the default mode; I find I have to arrange a time to phone friends, the arrangement being made by text.

One other quirk of mine is that I do like to know when someone has read/received a message, which is possible on Messenger (for the moment - I think I read that this might be phased out) and WhatsApp but only on certain email systems. My newish (2021) phone does not give me a read receipt for a text message which my old phone (2015) did.

In, at least, the Apple system, the 'read receipt' appears to be at the gift of the recipient - i.e. the option can be switched off.

[Dave2002]

Over the last few years I have wondered about all this. Have my former friends decided they really didn't like me after all? The whole business of contacting people - some by phone - some by email etc. - plus as has been noted the confusion of so many other messages getting mixed in with the occasional wanted one - it's all too much really. I find that mostly I still prefer talking to people on the phone - if we can establish contact - or in one or two cases via Zoom or similar.

Email is also used for other purposes - which has made things considerably worse. Some of it is advertising, and some of it is is news. I subscribe to several on line newspapers, but they can flood my inbox in a very short time. Helpfully people suggest - cancel your subscription - but that's not a solution. It is the nature of some communications - such as newspapers - that only a fraction of what is provided is wanted by most people. Think about the Sunday Newspapers - as they were. Some people are only interested in the sports pages, while others want cinema and book reviews. In paper form most of each newspaper is going to end up in the recycling bin.

Also re firms which send out advertising material and offers - we don't necessarily not want to cut those altogether, but reducing the scale of the incoming floods by a factor of 50 or more would not necessarily be unwelcome. Some firms not only send out emails regularly, but also send out material by post. So much for banks trying to reduce the use of paper by not providing printed statements - which I find very inconvenient - but some firms compensate by sending out far more material by post - often in multiple copies - presumably in the interest of more profits. Holiday firms and clothes suppliers are among the worst of these.

An added irritation is the tracking and models used by many of the providers. If I use some devices or browsers and read email from a news site, the site knows which machine I'm using, and that I'm a subscriber. If I use another device or browser then I get asked to login [do I remember the passwords - of course not ...!!!!] or create a new account, or in some cases turn off my add blocker.
I am constantly feeling that I'd like to only receive messages on stone tablets [preferably not hurled at our windows ....] and reverting back to bygone ages - though someone has suggested that I need a quill pen for my next birthday.

[LMcD]

I think that applies to certain types of phone numbers eg tv phone-in programmes! rather than simple mobile to mobile calls between friends and family, so I don't think that accounts for the decline in 'spoken' contact - I suspect it is something more fundamentally anti-social and we are not yet at a point when we can see the damage...

It seems to me that, the easier it is for people to communicate with one another, the less often they actually meet in person.

[richardfinegold]

My daughter in law abhors phone calls. Everything is text. It is very annoying because when we are trying to make arrangements to see the grandchildren and them there is so much back and forth with the texts , over several hours, that could be resolved in a 30 second phone conversation , and then it is difficult to make other plans while these marathon text sessions are ongoing

[Old Grumpy]

My daughter in law abhors phone calls. Everything is text. It is very annoying because when we are trying to make arrangements to see the grandchildren and them there is so much back and forth with the texts , over several hours, that could be resolved in a 30 second phone conversation , and then it is difficult to make other plans while these marathon text sessions are ongoing

What is wrong with these people?...

...Ah, it seems to be this: Phone Anxiety: Definition, Symptoms, Treatment, Coping (verywellmind.com)

[LMcD]

What is wrong with these people?...

...Ah, it seems to be this: Phone Anxiety: Definition, Symptoms, Treatment, Coping (verywellmind.com)

Many young people have developed the art of texting while doing one or more other things - cooking, feeding the baby, watching TV, shopping - at the same time. This presumably represents an efficient use of their time.

[Dave2002]

Many young people have developed the art of texting while doing one or more other things - cooking, feeding the baby, watching TV, shopping - at the same time. This presumably represents an efficient use of their time.

Ah - the myth of multi-tasking.

[french frank]

My daughter in law abhors phone calls. Everything is text. It is very annoying because when we are trying to make arrangements to see the grandchildren and them there is so much back and forth with the texts , over several hours, that could be resolved in a 30 second phone conversation , and then it is difficult to make other plans while these marathon text sessions are ongoing

My telephobia stems from the fact that I'm afraid my phone call will inconvenience the person I'm phoning ("I'm just cooking supper. Can I ring you back?" Yes, but it might not be convenient for me. "I'm just about to sit down to dinner. Can you ring later?" No, because by the time I've left it long enought for you to finish dinner I shall want to be going to bed. "You're at Gatwick airport just going off on holiday for a month? I do apologise - no, it's not important" .And so on.) It's like not having a car - it's a great inconvenience to other people that I don't have a car.

[Serial_Apologist]

Many young people have developed the art of texting while doing one or more other things - cooking, feeding the baby, watching TV, shopping - at the same time. This presumably represents an efficient use of their time.

But what happens when even more time has to be efficiently used? Ask this question, and it betrays the truth that it isn't "the individual" determining what is or isn't "efficient" but the speed of economic viability drivers dictating the pace of everyday life in today's world, in which everything has to be done "just in [someone else's] time".

[richardfinegold]

Many young people have developed the art of texting while doing one or more other things - cooking, feeding the baby, watching TV, shopping - at the same time. This presumably represents an efficient use of their time.

Afraid not. I find it difficult to actually have a conversation with my daughter in law (I am actually quite fond of her and her good points certainly outweigh these gripes here), because before I finish she is reaching for her phone giving it attention while supposedly conversing with me. She then frequently is texting at the last minute to reconfirm plans that were discussed and agreed upon, sometimes as little as an hour previously, because she wasn’t paying attention, as well as not remembering anything we tell her about our life events. If, otoh, you catch her in a rare moment without her phone, then she is focused and attentive.
She is far from being the only person I know that does this. My last several years in practice I was stunned by the increased tendency of patients to talk and text on the phone during appointments and be surprised when I asked the, to put the phone away, as if I was the one committing the faux pas

[LMcD]

Afraid not. I find it difficult to actually have a conversation with my daughter in law (I am actually quite fond of her and her good points certainly outweigh these gripes here), because before I finish she is reaching for her phone giving it attention while supposedly conversing with me. She then frequently is texting at the last minute to reconfirm plans that were discussed and agreed upon, sometimes as little as an hour previously, because she wasn’t paying attention, as well as not remembering anything we tell her about our life events. If, otoh, you catch her in a rare moment without her phone, then she is focused and attentive.
She is far from being the only person I know that does this. My last several years in practice I was stunned by the increased tendency of patients to talk and text on the phone during appointments and be surprised when I asked the, to put the phone away, as if I was the one committing the faux pas

Perhaps I should have said 'They presumably think that this represents ...'.

[Dave2002]

My last several years in practice I was stunned by the increased tendency of patients to talk and text on the phone during appointments and be surprised when I asked the, to put the phone away, as if I was the one committing the faux pas

I am amazed, though not perhaps too surprised.

[Serial_Apologist]

I am amazed, though not perhaps too surprised.

Manners in the digital age!

[french frank]

and be surprised when I asked the, to put the phone away, as if I was the one committing the faux pas

I'd suggest perhaps they could make another appointment for when they weren't quite so busy, and show them the door.