[Marimeli]

I saw a thread on the INTP forum, where the consensus is pretty much that they hate talking on the phone.

Do you?

I hate conducting business or especially talking to strangers on the phone. I also sort of don't talk to hardly anyone except my parents on the phone and when people call me I make frequent excuses to get off, especially if they call just to "check up on me and see how I'm doing."

I think this has gotten worse since I got on Facebook. What are your thoughts?

 

[yello]

I never pick up the phone.

 

[Wheeze]

If I do answer the phone I try to end the conversation as quickly as possible. So yeah, I hate talking on the phone too.

 

[Lachesis]

I absolutely dread the phone. It's somehow because I can't see the non-verbal communication of the speaker and I can't express mine, so I feel that I don't understand the speaker and vice versa.

I stammer, am anxious and can't get my message across. No, I think phone isn't my medium. I rather delegate the duty to others. Face to face is much better. Everything goes smoothly and I get my message across.

I suspect the operators have added my kryptonite to the devices so that it takes two times the required time to say what I want to say. This is like totally legit suspicion.

 

[EbonyTigger]

I can't stand talking on the phone - I start to shake and get anxious (even more anxious than I usually am)

 

[illicit iridescence]

I never pick up the phone.

Haha yeah xD on my cellphone. Unless I'm expecting a short conversation like "Hey I'm where we're supposed to meet up. Where you at?". xD

I used to have long conversations every now and then on the phone years ago, but that sort of 'died out' and I prefer face2face anyways. When people do call me for a conversation, I offer the idea to meet up.

But I don't hang up immediately when contacted by telemarketeers / call center agents on a landline (my cell number is registered as 'do not call' in my country ^^). It's a horrible job, but they're people, so I keep it friendly - it's not like hanging up is going to make those jobs disappear. Much like I take off my headphone, say hi and smile at the cashier when paying for stuff. I rarely solicit for a conversation, but if they have something to say, I'll try to reply.

 

[Oh_no_she_DIDNT]

Depends who I'm talking to.

I can easily talk for hours on the phone with my girlfriends. I can really lose track of time when talking to one of them. I suspect its partly because these friends and I are iNtuitive's; our conversations just sort of jump here and there and everywhere yet we are always on the same page with each other.

I kind of have a love-hate relationship with cell phones though. On the one hand, they are great. When you need to reach someone or leave them a message, its relatively easy these days (not to mention having online access at your fingertips). On the other hand, I dislike the idea of always being expected to return calls quickly, and I don't like the idea of everyone having or expecting access to me. Also, I think sometimes that phones cause us to be less present in the moment with the company we are with. I sometimes intentionally bury my phone so that I can really be present with people or just to really absorb where I am.

 

[Wayfarer]

I never pick up the phone.

Ditto on that, at least most of the time. I mean, if it's important enough, they'll leave a voice message. *shakes his fist angrily @ Canadian phone companies for charging extra for voice mail*

Somehow, when I start talking on the phone, my voice gets louder (not obnoxiously so, mind you - I'm usually fairly quiet when speaking in person) and I tend to use more tonal variety. It's like I become more confident and caring when speaking on the phone. It's an interesting phenomena I've noticed about myself that also kicks in when I'm delivering a presentation or speech (gogo public speaking!).

I'm wondering if you've noticed a similar tendency about yourself and/or (other) shy introverts (like me :tongue.

Also, I think sometimes that phones cause us to be less present in the moment with the company we are with. I sometimes intentionally bury my phone so that I can really be present with people or just to really absorb where I am.

THANK YOU! I completely agree! I tend to get annoyed and frustrated when I'm with someone and they keep...checking...their damn...phone...*tap tap tap tap*..."Sorry, you were saying?". :angry:

I usually don't mention it though unless I'm really annoyed (read: here comes the Te lashing!).

 

[cloudcompeller]

I hate everything about a phone, except the apps it provides
Don't like to use it to call people, or pick it up when someone's calling. I just feel nervous when doing so...But I'm sure it's not society anxiety because I have no problems talking with new people or crowds of people face to face. Maybe I just hate the awkward silence that might happen.

 

[Vin The Dreamer]

Oh, I am simply not a phone person! For some reason I can rarely get 'in the flow' and talking comfortably to the person as much as real life or on the forum. Thankfully, most of the time it's just for my parents or so done calling me over to their house; but unfortunately, it skews any long-distance friendships I now have. :sad:

And I've never gotten used to cellphones either. I seriously only got my first one when I was 16 and didn't use it much. And to me, if it doesn't have numbers on it or it has it's own keyboard, then it's not a true phone!:mellow:

 

[Michael82]

I think the short-term trend of calling is finished. First there was the home phone, and sometimes women would use it for hours...it was a trend. Then you got the mobile phone which is the ultimate calling device because you can call everywhere. The amount of "where are you now's" soared to such a bizarre amount that it changed from "being cool" to the point where people thought how useless it is to ask someone where they are when they were actually calling for something else.

When we look at long-term trends then family business across the border is definitely one of those long-term trends. Asians who leave their family for studies abroad excessively use programs like skype, up until a daily basis. I think that this trend won't go away because it's tied to family.

 

[telepariah]

I hate phones. When mine rings I almost always feel like an intrusion is happening. Sometimes I just don't answer. And I don't enjoy calling people either because I presume that I am interrupting them in something important. I don't like texting either. Both are too immediate to me. I would much rather talk to somebody face to face or use email to compose my thoughts more carefully.

 

[kaleidoscope]

Er, I usually can't wait to hang up. Say my friend is talking, I'm always like "Ok.. yeah.. Ok.." and trying to somehow insert the "Well I'm really busy right now so I'll talk to you later?"

I usually am so terrified of awkward silences, because on the phone, you're FORCED to talk, it's like the sole purpose, you can't do anything else. My mind also tends to drift after a while, so my friend will be talking about X or Y then go like "Are you even listening?" because I'll have forgotten a few "yeah"s or "hmm"s. *bows head in shame*

I can handle short term conversations, like ordering food or whatever, because I know it's gonna be brief, nothing additional from me is required.

 

[refugee]

How I feel about 99% of the time.

 

[FaveteLinguis]

Honestly I have a pretty fond attachment to phones. When I was dating much more frequently and traveling quite a bit it was hard to find time to see whichever girl had taken my attention. So talking on the phone was about the next best thing compared to actually seeing them face to face. Hours of conversation, coffee, laughing, shit eating grins etc. It was 100x better than just texting, I still loathe short messaging somebody for more than 10 min. This was around the time when I was a bit more intense with everything as well. Could be a correlation maybe. *shrugs*

Really I would rather talk to somebody face to face rather than read an email or text. Though I'll take a phone call if that's all I can do, doesn't really bother me. It's generally a breath of fresh air when I talk to somebody real over the line instead of an automated message as well.

Though I will agree it's a bit annoying to get a phone call every ten min asking me where I'm at. May as well say I'm at the airport hitching a ride to Timbuktu.

 

[ethylester]

I prefer texting by a long shot. Whenever i need to talk to somebody, it is usually a quick question, so there is no point in making them go through the rituals of "hello? what's up? how are you? oh ok, talk to you later, have a good day" all that BS. I just want to cut to the chase, that's why I like texting. My extremely extroverted friend moved away and i would text her every once in a while and say hi. I thought I was helping to keep the friendship going. But no, one day she bitched at me because all I ever did was text her and I never called her. She took it to mean I didn't care how she was doing and didn't want to talk to her. That made me sad so I figured I should stop texting her to make her happy. But then what happened is we lost contact. Stupid.

Since I work at the crisis line, I have become accustomed to being on the phone for hours and talking to people in depth, and I actually like it. What I don't like is the surface level telephone conversations with just chit chat and ritual BS you have to ask people. My mom is notorious for this and it has resulted in me ignoring her calls 4/5 times she calls me. I can't always pick up and have a 20 min conversation. It just doesn't work for my brain.

I can't multitask to save my life, so when someone talks to me on the phone, I literally have to drop what i'm doing and sit there and talk. I think that is what bugs me the most.

Like @telepariah said, I feel it's an intrusion, an interruption. It always jars me when the phone rings and my initial response to a ring is often swear words. And i don't know the last time I called up somebody 'just to talk'. That is so foreign to me.

 

[Cloudphile]

No one call me woop! but at the same time I feel lonely, me=INFP xD

but there's someone I text often. I never take out my phone in public, especially if I'm around people I know. I think is a form of respect. I just dislike how everyone at school stare at their phone when their friends are just beside. I only use my phone when I'm alone in my room.

 

[Sily]

How do I feel about the phone?

I let husband answer it.

That's how I feel about the phone.

 

[ii V I]

I rarely have/usually do not pick up my cell phone.
I will respond to texts though...most of the time, or at least it's something I'm trying to get better at.

I'll be honest I talked a bunch on the phone in highschool with various significant others. Which, I feel is kind of a highschool societal archetype. I can remember talking for hours on my home phone(that's right).

Texting is just so much easier on the nerves.
So, now I rarely speak on the phone, except to my brother and sister.

 

[PumpkinEater]

i friggin hate the phone >:l
i don't care who tried to love you up, don't care that you lost your ipod, don't care that "this song is fuckin amazing!", just leave me alone. i'll see you monday, good talk..