The first minute of every phone call is torture now
theatlantic.com
The first minute of every phone call is torture now
1–10 of 450 posts
Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now
#2I cannot read the article due to the paywall, but just to vent.....one painful phone pet peeve for me that's declined recently is the art of people leaving a useful voice mail.
Ok, I get it. There's a few technically-challenged people that struggle with emails and texts and prefer to use their voice. I'm perfectly happy to deal with that.
But they call and leave a voice mail that focuses on the wrong information. They'll agonizingly slowly spell out their first and last name (D-as-in-dog, E-as-in-elephant, etc) and phone number (even though any digital system provides that already) but not even mention what they're calling for.
What should be a 15 second voice mail like "Hey Mark, this is Denise from the Jersey office. Please send Rachel in sales the paperwork for order #9485. Let me know if there's any problems with that. Thanks!" turns into a 2 minute long voicemail that is physically painful to listen to and that ignores the only necessary piece of information required and turns into an unnecessary game of phone tag.
Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now
#3I cannot read the article due to the paywall, but just to vent.....one painful phone pet peeve for me that's declined recently is the art of people leaving a useful voice mail. Ok, I get it. There's a few technically-challenged people that struggle with emails and texts and prefer to use their voice. I'm perfectly happy to deal with that. But they call and leave a voice mail that focuses on the wrong information. The…
Voicemail is essentially "Here, you type this email for me". I delete them unheard. But I'm an old curmudgeon.
Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now
#4I thought only old people still used the phone for making calls.
Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now
#5I cannot read the article due to the paywall, but just to vent.....one painful phone pet peeve for me that's declined recently is the art of people leaving a useful voice mail. Ok, I get it. There's a few technically-challenged people that struggle with emails and texts and prefer to use their voice. I'm perfectly happy to deal with that. But they call and leave a voice mail that focuses on the wrong information. The…
Voicemail is essentially "Here, you type this email for me". I delete them unheard. But I'm an old curmudgeon.
I disagree! With ubiquitous voicemail voice-to-text functionality, I find it fast and useful, plus it can be sent using a hands-free device in a car.
I would argue that you’re a zoomer curmudgeon rather than an old one. :)
Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now
#6I was out of the country last month.
Absolutely no spam on my "in country" sim there. Just exactly what I asked for, useful calls and texts.
The moment I got back, I was inundated with spam and texts.
I don't understand how we've let it get this bad in the USA.
Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now
#7I was out of the country last month. Absolutely no spam on my "in country" sim there. Just exactly what I asked for, useful calls and texts. The moment I got back, I was inundated with spam and texts. I don't understand how we've let it get this bad in the USA.
Looks like other countries have it too. What country were you visiting?
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1045618/spam-calls-per-m...
Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now
#8Maybe we need to unbundle the phone again. Maybe "a widescreen iPod with touch controls; a revolutionary mobile phone; and a breakthrough Internet communications device" isn't what we need in a single device after all...
Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Voicemail is essentially "Here, you type this email for me". I delete them unheard. But I'm an old curmudgeon.
I disagree! With ubiquitous voicemail voice-to-text functionality, I find it fast and useful, plus it can be sent using a hands-free device in a car. I would argue that you’re a zoomer curmudgeon rather than an old one. :)
I think it is because you want an acknowledgement that the recipient listened to your voicemail and will follow through. Without them calling back you will be in the dark. Also, for cases like exemplified with, email is probably better. Calling to talk is for more complex stuff that requires a conversation.
Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Voicemail is essentially "Here, you type this email for me". I delete them unheard. But I'm an old curmudgeon.
I disagree! With ubiquitous voicemail voice-to-text functionality, I find it fast and useful, plus it can be sent using a hands-free device in a car. I would argue that you’re a zoomer curmudgeon rather than an old one. :)
Why not use voice-to-text to send an email instead?