You were just way ahead of the trend. Current iPhones allow you to decline a call with a text message response, and even include some pre-populated responses to choose from.

Apart from my parents, I pretty much decline incoming calls (with a text message response if warranted, usually if it’s from someone who doesn’t usually call out of the blue) across the board. I thought this was mostly pretty common these days! People still just expect you to pick up rando calls without prior notice?

> I pretty much decline incoming calls

Whenever I see an unknown number, I just stare at it until it goes away.

I believe it will ring more quietly if you pick it up and put it back down.

Staring at the phone until it stops ringing, then texting “sorry I missed your call, what’s up?” is perfectly cromulent behavior!