to think phone calls are an arrogant, intrusive form of communication?

[oranges]

You decide you want to talk to someone, so pick up the phone, dial and basically insist that they talk to you RIGHT NOW whatever they may be doing. Yes, there is voicemail, but if someone knows you are home, its hard to not pick up. I much prefer emails, texts, even people ringing the doorbell.

I like phones. I love getting phonecalls. I could spend all day on the phone.

YusMilady - not like people who spend the whole day on mn then?!

I like getting phone calls and texts and friends and family dropping by

I think I live in a parallel universe to most on MN tbh

YANBU. DH drives me crazy with his jumping up to answer the phone in the middle of eating dinner... Leave it I say... we are eating... they will call back or leave a message.

It's a machine... it should be our servant, not the other way around.

Grrr

SS you should get a job in a call centre!

I worked in one 15 years ago and have had an aversion to speaking on the phone ever since!

I never answer my phone. Am not selective as I don't screen it just never answer it. Phone calls are for weirdos

No Marmite - not aimed at you

I am just always gobsmacked on here how people moan about folk dropping round/calling/staying the night and an equal number saying they have no friends

Nowt as queer as folk.

YANBU

It's not allowed to walk into a room and shout "ring ring, ring ring, ring ring" until someone speaks to you, so why is it allowed if you are not physically in the room?

I much prefer to send someone a message in a way that they can choose to pay attention to it when it is convenient for them.

I am with you Usual - pop by any time for a cuppa

All you who can't not pick up the phone are bonkers though.

It helps to not have a landline, or to have one with caller display. Then you can decide if you want to speak to that person right now.

The phone is there for your convenience, not the callers. If you don't want to talk to anyone, don't pick it up.

I think someone turning up at my door unannounced is far more intrusive (if you don't like that sort of thing). You have no choice to stop what you're doing and tend to them. It's much harder to pretend you're not there if they're at your door and can see you in the house.

Not that I would mind personally, we have a fair few visitors that drop in on us and I don't mind one bit :)

Everyone who loves phone calls seems to be thinking that those who don't like the phone only dislike receiving calls.

That's not it at all. I'm not just worried about people disturbing me, I am worried about disturbing them.

I see what you mean and Pre answe phone/caller Id I'd have agreed with you. But now, I just screen away merrily and get back to people when I can or want to. I find mobile calls more intrusive strangely because I always have my mobile on me. And I can't hear the voicemail without making a real effort.

Oh thank god, I thought I was the only one!

I feel like either I'm always doing something, in which case I don't really have time to drop everything and chat, or else I'm relaxing and deliberately not doing anything, which includes gabbing on the phone.

Have loads of friends btw, we have long gabfests when we meet up, keep in touch by email and text.

Everyone is so busy these days, it's just easier this way.

I never thought I would have said this, but increasingly I agree. It does feel like an intrusion - when the phone rings I think "FFS, what is it now?" rather than "oh good". Probably because such a high proportion of calls are cold-calling/scammers these days.

Telephones are for messages not for conversations......

That's what MIL says

It's all very well saying you only have/will only answer a mobile. Where I live there is no mobile reception and it costs a bloody fortune to ring a mobile from a landline! Plus the reception at their end is almost always crap and I always manage to feel I'm disturbing them. Why do people insist on picking up a mobile when they are somewhere really noisy and/or in the middle of something. Talk about making you feel uncomfortable!

Goes without saying I can't send a text either.

I would always ring a landline over a mobile , mobile calls cost a fortune

Sales calls are intrusive, yes, and if someone is calling at a really inconvenient time then I just don't answer. But also, I have friends abroad and others that I don't get to see that often, and a phone call from them is brilliant, so much better than an email.

The thing I really have no time for though is the unbelievably long voicemails left by my friend who lives about 5 minutes walk from my house. I always delete them and call back instead.

DP's mom's best friend can talk for England. One time she called DP's mom and she was talking and talking with DP's mom going 'mm' and 'yeah' in the appropriate places. There was a power cut, for a good 40 mins the power was off, the power returned and she picked up the phone, and she was STILL THERE and hadn't even noticed DP's mom had stopped talking!

I tend to agree about the phone being for messages rather than conversations. Whenever someone meanders off into chatting, I'm just thinking 'Get to the point'. I think I have male relationship with the phone.

I prefer the door knocking. Its a mute-the-tv-and-stealth-up-to-the-spyhole-to-see-who-it-is game. If its the tv licence man someone I don't know, I don't answer.

Ignoring a ringing phone is a learned skill - one that DP, myself and the DPs have taught ourselves and each other to survive the last two years if intrusive calls from exP/parents etc.

Just this evening during dinner we continued our conversation while the phone rang for over a minute. We don't have an answerphone - if it's urgent, they'll ring back!

Try it; it's incredibly liberating !