Do people just not ring each other any more, is this normal?

[Gurolou]

All my friends want to text or WhatsApp, it seems to be a thing, I hate it. We are all in our forties and fifties so texting wasn't even a thing for most of our lives. Is this really the same for everyone and just how things are? Because I actually hate texts and WhatsApp it just feels like stuff piling on top of me, and I miss talking to people.

EXACTLY. There are some batshit comments on this thread. 'Don't talk on the phone to people? This means that you have no human contact.' What a load of tripe! 😂

We do facetime a lot.

I know its a long long long time since mobiles came into being but I just dont hear as well on them. I hate talking on them. Particularly if someone puts me on loudspeaker which they inevitably do. Or someone inconsiderate phoning from a car.

I miss a landline quite frankly

It’s very rare that I speak to anyone on the phone now, except for quick things that require a call. I don’t like speaking on the phone and, if you think about it, we have actually gone back to an older form of communication, it is just much quicker now. It does feel like most people prefer text. I see my friends very often in person, so we speak properly then. Again, ‘letters’ and in person communication - probably more natural than a disembodied voice, despite the modern tech involved. I’m in my 40’s.

Family - talk on phone (my mum can't understand text) Friends - text or whatsapp.

I'm not a big talker and need to psych myself up a bit if I am going to meet someone, but would hate a phone call out of the blue just to chat.

My best friend of 40 years lives some distance away so we don't see each other very often. Until a few years ago we would randomly pick up the phone and talk for an hour or two.
Not any more, we do still call but it's pre-arranged by WhatsApp. We were both saying how we miss the old spontaneity.
My two adult sons sometimes call me on their drive home or while out walking which is lovely.
I hate voice notes with a passion, don't mind messaging but I do send long chatty messages and sometimes get a one word reply <sister>

I will literally let the phone ring out and then send them a WhatsApp, unless I think it's an emergency, or it's my mum

I think it tells me that if you want anything sorted, then a person to person voice conversation remains the quickest, fastest and most direct route to clear and proper understanding of what needs to be done and when. I mostly prefer person to person direct contact. It's much more efficient.

I do quite a bit of FaceTimeing but only with people I’m very close too. I don’t think I’ve called a friend on the phone for decades.

I avoid speaking on the phone like the plague! Just my DM for long chats which I'll one day miss desperately so I always answer her calls.

Other than that I only use calls when abs necessary like car insurance.

I have a lovely friend that is about 20 years older than me (she's mid 60s) and I hate to admit that I avoid her calls as she moved away. The last few calls have been really drawn out with awkward silences as we haven't as much in common anymore.

I think she's a bit put out that we haven't spoken as much but it is just to bloody torturous tbh!! Wish she'd be happy just WhatsApping as it must be clear to her too that the calls are not the same anymore! Like a pp said, I might be able to cope if they were scheduled in but when my phone rings and I see her number come up, I just think ugh and not answer! 🙈

I think phone calls are inefficient as you can’t do other things whilst you’re on the phone and it can be hard to end a conversation, so calls can drag on. Plus I like to have a written record of what’s been agreed.

I whatsapp or text then too because I know folk will get the message regardless.

What's app all the way. I don't do phone calls unless absolutely necessary ( which is rarely).

No the reverse. I feel very connected to the people I message. I exchange messages with some people several times a day. I never phoned anyone several times a day. And it's efficient and personal. It's quick to send a message and to share jokes, information, make plans, share photos , things that are difficult or impossible to to do in a phone call.
It isn't about not wanting social contact either because I see people face to face and chat for hours sometimes.

In a shop the other week, a man was with his wife and young family shopping. He was pushing the pushchair at the same time as broadcasting a FaceTime call with a mate, by the sound of it.

Just looked at my phone last incoming call was Christmas Day, I called Southern water on December 18th so I guess not

Remember the orange 50 phone deal? 50 minutes calls a day, after 7, for 50p a day. I used to use that every night and more in my early 20s. Now, phone calls are about instructions/communications apart from to my parents.

I do miss it, but other people have to be in the mood for it too. I have someone who very occasionally (once a year or so) rings me when on the train and it’s so annoying as the reception goes in and out of range as the train goes through tunnels.

A phone call interrupts what the recipient was doing. A text doesn’t, as it is read at the recipient’s leisure.

I do. I used to love chatting on the phone . Messaging feels like a job and its not the same vibe at all. I miss it loads

Yes, actually. But I've grown used to being in control of my time. I can read your message now, reply in half an hour or tomorrow, you have the same privilege. It's hard to understand why phoning makes me feel put on the spot somehow, but it does.

Mid 60s and never liked talking on the phone! I'll do it for work related / business reasons or with my dad. Otherwise only quick calls to my immediate family. Much much prefer WhatsApp and text if I have to. (I remember the era of not having use of the phone in my rented accommodation and spending evenings looking for a working phone box so I could to sort out my social life - hellish)

Because social norms and human behaviour evolve? We are on an ever changing path of social evolution towards what we don't know, but you can't argue with change, it happens anyway. You're coming across a bit old man yelling at clouds TBH

50s here. I hate talking on the phone.

I’m early 40s, the only people who phone me are my mum and dad! I used to have long chats with my sister on the phone every couple of weeks but we stopped doing that about 7 or 8 years ago. I’ve never thought about whether I miss it but I guess I do a bit, with my sister anyway. It’s just become so normal to communicate with everyone via WhatsApp. Communication is more little and often now through text, rather than less often and talking for longer like it used to be when you’d call someone for a catch up every week or so

Yeah same. I feel sad about it tbh.