mdolla: I Dread Picking Up Your Call, But It Doesn't Mean I Don't Like You

It was 11p.m. and I was typing a message to my best friend. Suddenly, a sense of terror crept into my mind, and a wave of nausea filled my stomach. I immediately threw my phone on my bed and tried to cover it with my pillow. I just didn’t dare to watch what’s shown on it…

Thinking it’s the beginning of a thriller? Nonono… You’re just too imaginative. It’s just my best friend calling.

My description might be a bit too dramatic. But what’s sure is I feel sick whenever my phone rings. Don’t get me wrong. I love my family and friends and welcome them to contact me. What I dread is the idea of talking on the phone. You must be familiar with claustrophobia, cockroach phobia and even aqua phobia. So why some people can’t accept that some people really suffer from phone phobia?

To stop the anxiety, that’s what I tell my loved ones–Please message me instead of calling unless there’s something urgent. Of course, talking on the phone is acceptable to me sometimes. Just you need to message me about that so I can feel prepared. And I will make my points here.

Phone calls interrupt the tempo of our lives

We’re living in a hectic world. Our schedules are packed with loads of tasks. That’s why we find messaging tools the greatest invention of the age. They allow us to keep distractions away and get back to our family and friends when we have time.

But phone calls are the opposite case. They are intrusive, forcing you to put away what you’re doing to talk to the person who calls. There are countless times that phone calls interrupt my work and thinking, and I need to spend much time to regain my productivity, which is frustrating.

Sometimes, we just want to avoid awkward moments

Phone calls sometimes create unnecessary embarrassing and awkward moments. Communication over the phone is instant. If you say something wrong, you can’t take it back. There was a time my girl friend sent me a photo of a dress she just bought and asked how I felt about it. Without a second thought, I replied that the patterns on the dress was like those on the wallpaper of my aunt’s home. What came afterwards was a DEAD silence. I can still remember how suffocating the silence was back then.

Other than such kind of disaster, you must have experienced moments when you and your friend on the other side of the phone can’t think of anything interesting to talk. But both of you feel embarrassed to end the conversation. Communication through messaging tools saves us from these awkward moments as we can have more time to think of better responses.

Phone calls steal time from us unknowingly

Let’s admit it, taking on the phone is not an effective way of communication. Unless you allow yourself to give meaningless responses to your friend, talking on the phone takes much energy. You can hardly do other things like watching videos of your favourite Youtube channels and completing tasks with approaching deadlines. The usual case is when you hang up the phone, a few hours have passed, and sometimes unfortunately, wasted.

I’m not saying we should completely replace phone calls with messages when we contact our loved ones. Listening to their voices is what we need sometimes. I just hope more people can understand that some of us do feel anxious when our phone rings and why we feel in that way. Don’t be mistaken that your friend doesn’t answer to your call because he or she doesn’t like you. There are many ways of communication today. Pick the one that makes both of you feel comfortable and stay connected!

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