Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2020 October 13

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October 13

Not using your mobile phone for speaking

Here is something I completely fail to understand. I have seen several Facebook memes implying today's youth doesn't use their mobile phones for speaking any more. They don't call anyone or answer anyone's calls. Instead, it's strictly either SMS text messaging or whatever the current "cool" or "hip" messaging application of the day is.

I fail to understand why. Do they have some kind of aversion towards speaking? Throughout history, speaking has been far more common and easier than writing. I find actually speaking to someone over the phone far faster than typing text messages. This is what the telephone was invented for. The "phone" part even means "sound", not "text".

Is this some kind of purposeful rebellion against the "boomer" generation? (Actually, the "boomer" generation even came before my generation.) Do the youth view anything older people do as lame?

Or is this some kind of trick or joke that is going over my head? JIP | Talk 00:24, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

When texting, no one can hear you. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:44, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Some people will blame Phone anxiety, and there's some of that, but I think there's also a social aspect.

Calling someone interrupts them and demands their attention. In the olden days that aspect of telephoning was a necessary side-effect of modern communication. But it's not necessary anymore. If something isn't urgent, you can just text the person. Maybe they'll answer right this instant, or maybe they'll answer when they've got a moment.

I don't know how to source that, exactly, but it's mention obliquely in the Texting article when it says that texting is desirable "in contexts where a call would be impolite or inappropriate (e.g., calling very late at night or when one knows the other person is busy with family or work activities)."

On top of that, don't forget that teenagers often don't really want to be eavesdropped on by parents or other adults. So they get into the habit of texting rather than calling, and that habit carries through to adulthood. ApLundell (talk) 01:52, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

I am a genuine baby boomer born in 1952 and I greatly prefer communicating with friends and family through social media or text messaging when we are not face-to-face, so this trend is not limited to "today's youth". Since I am self-employed, I often have to talk to clients on the phone because of their preference, but I try to switch the communication to email whenever possible. I am in business together with one of my sons and we do have frequent but usually brief phone calls. Written electronic communication allows me to choose my words carefully and thoughtfully, editing my remarks before sending them off. Also, I have a written record of what both parties have said in case there is a misunderstanding. Another factor is that, when my phone rings, there is a great likelihood that the caller is a bot, a spammer, a con artist, or a combination of those. I despise those calls. The only other exception to my general rule is that I will call family members to discuss deaths or serious illnesses. That's it. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 02:14, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

I am old and prefer texting also. Not only do I despise calls. I despise my phone making any noise at all. I don't want it to talk to me. I don't want to talk to it. I absolutely abhor the push for voice-controls on phones when it means that manual control is degraded or, worse, removed. What I really want is a keyboard (a real keyboard, with real keys that I can really feel) and a screen. My perception is that teens want a wafer that they control by talking to it and it speaks everything back to them. They don't want the privacy of silence. Then, another part of me says that teens don't really want that. Apple wants that because a phone with no touch controls of any kind would be cheaper to make and they can charge more it. That is why every new iPhone has something removed while the price goes up. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 11:31, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

As Stephen Fry once said, the phone is very rude, when it rings, the person on the other side is basically going "Speak to me now! Speak to me now! Speak to me now!". The etiquette amongst many young people now is to check first if the other person is free to receive calls, which I think is a great development. Fgf10 (talk) 08:20, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

JIP, mobile telephones are just called that by convention now. They are just portable general-purpose computers of a particular form factor. The "telephone" function is just another app, and a vestigial one at that. The PSTN is a burdensome legacy to support, and providers are happy to fragment it into a multitude of chatty apps that use expensive data instead of "voice" billing. Recent innovations have ensured that voice communication quality is as low as possible - VoIP, lossy codecs. Telephone communication is clearly deprecated, and providers will move it to "unsupported" as soon as they can find an excuse. Elizium23 (talk) 12:24, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

I, for one, still use two-way voice communication over my mobile telephone pretty much daily and will continue to do so. It is much faster than having to type everything. But perhaps I'm an old fossil who will soon go the way of the dodo. JIP | Talk 13:20, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

"Telephone, n. An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance." Ambrose Bierce I'm 63 and don't have a mobile phone - heck I rarely even answer my landline unless I know who it is. I work in a college and it amazes me how fast the teenagers can text - faster than I can speak. The students like efficiency; on the train it is not unusual to see them watching recorded lectures at 2x speed, and they can absorb the information. They are like sponges. --TrogWoolley (talk) 13:43, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Mobile phones are the newsagents of telephony. Traditionally, newspapers, magazines and stationery were their principal trade; but now, those items are located way down the back of the store, with the more lucrative lines up front (gifts, lottery tickets ...). Even I, the world's greatest newspaper fan, have it delivered only on weekends now, and then only for the book/film reviews and interviews with authors. (PS. Never tell me to read papers online. Never.) -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:48, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Speaking's not really quicker, though, is it?

Imagine you're meeting someone at a pub. It'll take about two seconds to tap out. "I'm at the upstairs bar." Then the phone goes back in your pocket.

I don't think I've ever in my life had a telephone conversation as short as that. Most of the time you'd spend longer than that quietly holding your phone to your face waiting for the other person to even pick up! ApLundell (talk) 23:10, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

When my nephew (12) wants to chat to his friends he goes on Minecraft. DuncanHill (talk) 23:21, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

My kids do the same. Either Minecraft or Fortnight. Sometimes they don't even play the game, they just hang out in the lobby and chat with their friends. --Jayron32 11:49, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Kind of the high-tech version of passing notes in class. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:43, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

You really get to know the age of a person by how they spell Fortnite.--WaltCip-(talk) 16:24, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

You can really get to know the age of a person by the fact that they have kids that play Fortnite. #contextclues. --Jayron32 17:07, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

You can really get to know the age of a person by the fact that they have grandkids that play Fortnite. (pass me my walking frame please) Richard Avery (talk) 10:10, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Speaking is not always quicker, but often is. You're right that "I'm at the upstairs bar" is quicker to type than say. But not all conversations are that sort. Imagine you're a business chief who is going through corporate negotiations, or a software engineer discussing technical details, or calling your uncle at another city catching up on things and planning a visit. The conversation can last from tens of minutes to hours compared to under a second for "I'm at the upstairs bar", and the course of the conversation can change at any given moment. It's far easier and quicker to just speak instead of typing hundreds upon hundreds of tiny SMS or chat messages during one single conversation. What I'm trying to say here is that speaking over the telephone is not always needed, but sometimes is. That's why I despise blanket statements such as "Oh, you never speak on the phone to anyone." JIP | Talk 21:56, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

I'm a millennial. The reason I don't use my phone for phone calls is because 99% of the calls I get are all robocalls or spammers. Phone calls are worse than useless. Favoring texting or other forms of messaging is not some conspiracy to mock or embarrass the baby boomer generation; it's mostly out of efficiency and to avoid avoidable daily nuisances.--WaltCip-(talk) 15:14, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

An axiom going back to the dial-phone days, at least: You have a phone for your convenience, not someone else's, in general (there are exceptions, for emergencies). With caller ID and other forms of screening, you don't ever have to answer. Total control! ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:51, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

With platforms like WhatsApp, a conversation can be shared with a group of friends, rather than having the same conversation with several different individuals. Alansplodge (talk) 08:18, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Re Bugs' comment, I'm not so sure about that. All businesses had a landline (as they do still) and an entry in the business pages and yellow pages to make it convenient for their customers to call them. I doubt that any business without would last very long. Asked about the percentage of incoming calls to outgoing calls I guess most people would say it is about fifty-fifty. 2.31.65.97 (talk) 12:04, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

I'm talking about your personal phone. Obviously, things are different in a business environment. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:50, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Although if you're working from home, things can get complicated.[1] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:06, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

I don't think business and personal use can be compartmentalised these days. It's routine for business people to give out their mobile number. 2A00:23C4:7C86:9000:E9DB:6543:7C9E:A34F (talk) 09:22, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

If you give out your phone number, you can expect calls, some wanted, some maybe not. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:46, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

A few other options besides polite, quiet, or avoiding notice. A) You don't have much to say. If I only need a sentence, why go through all the phone call etiquette? (Similar to ApLundell answer) B) You don't want to get trapped in a conversation. Some people, you call them, they'll guilt you into never hanging up. Texting, you can just ignore them. C) Time delay. Don't need the info now, yet need a response eventually, similar to email. D) You don't need a response. Just curious what they'll say. E) You don't want to hear their voice. Some people, you really just don't want to talk to them. They're that annoying. F) Social etiquette / peer pressure. Its what all your friends do, so that's what you do. G) Mass message. Easier to text "lets hang out" to 20 people then individual call. H) Strangely clearer. With talking, there's all kinds of implied social issues with hearing their voice, delays in speaking, trying imply meaning in subtle pauses. With a text, you can just add a string of emoji to clarify. "I'm so happy" =) (smile) "I'm so happy" :‑, ',:-| (smirking skepticism) "I'm so happy" #‑) %‑) (blitzed, partied all night, drunk) I) You can't "say" emoji. Its like talking with symbology. “bombshell bikini” or "bombshell body" could be formed with ●～*@8>. Even shorter with actual emoji. (Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 2019) Araesmojo (talk) 22:02, 18 October 2020 (UTC)

One advantage of texting v voice must be cost. On a voice call you're charged per second or minute. A text/email (I believe smartphones are email enabled) presumably costs the same irrespective of distance, and you can transmit in a fraction of a second what might take a quarter hour to speak. Plus you can transmit pictures. 2A00:23C6:2403:E900:6CEF:8139:AE0C:E0A (talk) 12:50, 19 October 2020 (UTC)

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