voice mail is for people who are not me

[jlh]

I've gotten to the point where I pretty much hate the telephone. I only talk to a few people on it regularly, all people who are not local. I used to talk on the phone all the time. And the oddest thing is, most of the people I talk to on the phone are male friends! (This is particularly true now that Mother has gone deaf, so we communicate via email.)

I also hate voice mail—hate it to the extent that I stopped checking it at some point and so Cingular or AT&T or whatever just turned the thing off, and I can't say as I care that much. If you want me, send me a text or an email, please. Anyway, apparently I'm not the only one hating on voice mail—there's a whole piece about it at the NYTimes, which I saw via Jezebel, and the blogger there hates voice mail, too.

At least my anxieties are trendy. I have to agree with that one guy who talks about how there are so many ways to reach anyone—I'd rather just cut off one of them.

Comments

[shakespearechic.livejournal.com]

To me voice mail is useful in the sense of I don't want to talk to people on the phone either - so they can just tell me what it is they are calling about in the message and I can decide my next course of action!! This applies to work too...

[locumtenens.livejournal.com]

just tell me what it is they are calling about in the message

This is the key, though. As opposed to my mom who still insists on saying things like, "Hi, when you get a chance please call me back."

And still doesn't get the concept that 1) I can see that she called and will therefore call her back regardless, and 2) I could've called her back and been done with the conversation in the the time it takes to actually check and listen to the message.

To refer to other parts of Clio's post - I absolutely ABHOR talking on the phone for the most part. I even hate calling for something as simple as ordering a pizza. It stresses me out and I have to go into a room away from other people to do so and like, pump myself up for it. *is a freak*

[shakespearechic.livejournal.com]

Very true. That does apply more for either people I don't recognize the number for or at work. When people call me at work and only leave a name and number and no account or reason why I can then ignore it with my boss' agreement (we're usually not allowed to talk to them anyway - only their attorney). :-P

[mistress-mab.livejournal.com]

LOL I am not alone!

I haven't had voice mail in 2 years. I hate, hate, hate talking on the phone. Because of the phone I have, I have to have the most expensive data plan that Cingular offers. They thought I was crazy when I said, "take off the voice mail." My cell phone is basically just portable email for me.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

So if someone calls you it just rings and rings and rings?

The one thing is that I don't have signal in the subway, so if someone calls me while I'm down there I don't know it, as it doesn't even come up as a missed call. But other than that, no thank you.

The more that my social life is either in person or in email/facebook/twitter/LJ the less I feel the need to talk to anyone on the phone, for real. And you know, as your friends start having kids talking to them on the phone gets really tricky anyway.

[mistress-mab.livejournal.com]

It rings 5 or 6 times and then says something like, "The AT&T Customer you are trying to reach is unavailable."

My friends are used to it by now and my ringer is off the majority of the day because I'm at work (cell phones are obviously a big no-no in a library), so it doesn't bother me. It used to drive my mom nuts, though, before she discovered the joys of email.

I'm a classic introvert and talking on the phone is really awkward for me.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

I also hate the phone. I ignore voicemails--sometimes. It's weird. I can't talk to my mom on the phone anymore either and my dislike definitely started after she died.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think not talking to my mother—I think we all expect to mostly talk to our mothers on the phone, wonder what that is about? Now I only talk to a couple of friends who live on the west coast, and my therapist to have phone sessions, and that's it.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Therapy on the phone?! Wow. I know people do that, but I can't imagine it. I think it would also make the phone even weirder for me if I used it for therapy.

Of course the therapy I am doing right now is super weird. I lie on a sofa and stare at her bookcase. I talk and she makes me analyze certain phrases or word choices I use.

[mr-cutiepants.livejournal.com]

HEAR HEAR!

I hate voicemail too. {high fives you}. jeremiah can tell you that I used to have a VM message that just said, "hey, don't leave a VM. I never check my VM. Text me instead. or email. Unless it's an emergency, in which case you should call 911." or something along those lines.

What I want is a service that translates your VM to a text blurb... so I can just READ the idiotic meanderings of people instead of having to sit through them for the full 10 minutes or whatever!

[jlh.livejournal.com]

There is one—I think it's mentioned in the NYT article—but I think it's still pricey at this point. But if the trend continues, maybe it will get cheaper! Because I totally agree!

[amyamy.livejournal.com]

The Times article mentions that Google's getting into the VM transcription service, so it'll be free eventually...

[mr-cutiepants.livejournal.com]

Looks like it's about to get free!

I found this today: https://www.google.com/voice/about

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

I'm required to check voice mail at work. Ugh. We have the equivalent of voice mail on our combined phone/answering machine. But I hate it too. Sometimes I think email was invented specifically for me :D

[evil-erato.livejournal.com]

You know of my hatred of talking on the phone, so I'll merely not frantically from my perch on the couch. :)

[sisterpandora.livejournal.com]

I'm not fond of listening to voicemail so I got something called SpinVox that converts the voice message into a text so I can just read it instead. The translation rate isn't always spot on, but it's correct enough that I've kept it.

[lillijulianne.livejournal.com]

i'm all hating of these things right now, but i don't know if it's just a preference or part of depression. i used to love talking on the phone. it is interesting that so many people feel oppressed bu the technology, though...

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I think it's that the phone is PAY ATTENTION TO ME RIGHT NOW whereas all the other stuff is, read it when you have the time to read it. Now that everyone has had the chance to be connected 24/7 or whatever, our reaction to it is to become asynchronous except when we're in person of course.

[jenncho.livejournal.com]

My former best friend and I stopped talking a year and a half ago. For the last six months of our friendship we barely saw each other and instead texted or talked on the phone. I hated it and became disgusted with my phone. After we stopped talking I ended up getting rid of my phone. It was the most liberating thing I was able to do for myself at the time. I went without a phone for almost 9 months until people started getting pissed that they could never get in contact with me and so I had to get a new one.

If I got rid of the thing tomorrow I wouldn't exactly shed a tear. It's $80 a month I could put towards something less annoying.

[shewalksonroses.livejournal.com]

I hate hate hate the telephone. I think it's a combination of my hearing loss and my performance anxiety - I have problems hearing people on the other end and aside from a select few people, I can't call someone without scripting the phone call ahead of time. It SUCKS considering that my friends and family are so wide-spread - especially now that I'm in the UK - and I always feel a bit ashamed and uncool that I don't call people to catch up. :-/

I hate voicemail, too, mostly because the little icon or beep or whatever NEVER GOES AWAY until you check the damn thing, and I just have better things to do with my time. :P My mobile is basically just a tiny internet computer, with chat (text) facilities.

(Also? I want to be Ianto in this icon.)