Teenagers no longer answer the phone: Is it a lack of manners or a new trend?

Re:Teenagers no longer answer the phone: Is it a lack of man... by samanboz on Saturday August 23, 2025 @05:33PM (#44999318)

Gen Z here. Personally I’m glad to get a call from a close friend any time. Especially when it serves the purpose of them just telling me about something funny or interesting that has happened, to discuss some issue where tone of our speech is an essential part of communication, or to organize some get-together and make plans. In such cases I actually appreciate getting the call and happily pick up the phone. I only don’t if it’s an unknown number, or if the person repeatedly only calls to ask for a favor. Robocalls I don’t get often.

I agree with the argument presented here that one can communicate more effectively by intentionally not making oneself available right away and allowing oneself to be silent first. I totally relate to this in cases where e.g. a friend is asking for advice. However I feel that this is used mostly as an excuse to avoid communication. I don’t think there is a non-negligible proportion of teenagers that really think to themselves “hmm this matter calls for some contemplation, I should answer later”, rather “I really don’t want to deal with this right now”. I also feel that, similarly, what I see in the comments here is less “I don’t answer calls so that I communicate more effectively”, rather “I don’t answer because I don’t want to be bothered with real human interaction”, and I think that’s just sad. How can someone take such pride in intentionally isolating and disconnecting himself?

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Re:Teenagers no longer answer the phone: Is it a lack of man... by byronvickers on Sunday August 24, 2025 @04:23AM (#45002402)

Yes, I strongly agree with all of this.

Relatedly, I am seriously considering getting a landline again so that I (and my young children) can once again live in a world where the barrier to a "quick chat" with friends or family is lowered.

I'd love for my daughter to be able to just pick up the phone, call her friend, and schedule a hangout for that afternoon. (Or for me to be able to do the same with her friend's parents).

And having a dedicated landline for this means none of this needs to involve the mobile phone intruding on our home life.

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Re:Teenagers no longer answer the phone: Is it a lack of man... by Telaneo on Sunday August 24, 2025 @03:58PM (#45007234)

I don't consider textual communication less real than person-to-person interactions. Different, yes. Less real, no. On the contrary, communication over the phone is usually hindered by the horrible quality of most phone calls I experience, forcing me to use additional effort just to understand what's being said, rather than spending that energy actually answering. Textual commuication also has several advantages I wish real life had, like a log of what's been said.

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Re:Teenagers no longer answer the phone: Is it a lack of man... by samanboz on Monday August 25, 2025 @05:27PM (#45019236)

I think that this preference of yours (and understandably of many others) is a reflection of the pandemic desire - and eventual entitlement - for convenience. I’d say convenience is good in the form of things like hot water, efficient commute, robust legal processes, quick emergency communication, all of which we owe to technology. I could go on about how the pursuit of convenience has made us prosperous and miserable at the same time, but that’s a discussion for another day. While I’d agree that “a log of what’s been said” is convenient and advantageous, I’d say it’s more human to be remembered than simply looked up.

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Re:Teenagers no longer answer the phone: Is it a lack of man... by Telaneo on Monday August 25, 2025 @06:28PM (#45019916)

This is a preference of mine that goes back to IM services way back (and to a lesser degree SMS), and not a pandemic phenomenon.

Your convenience is someone else's accessibly.

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