Phone Calls Are For Old People? Just Not Efficient Enough
from the bye-bye-phone-calls dept
Clive Thompson's latest Wired column is about how many people are making fewer phone calls these days, especially among the younger people, who find other means of communication a lot more efficient. As Thompson notes, voice calls are "badly designed," from a usability and efficiency standpoint:Consider: If I suddenly decide I want to dial you up, I have no way of knowing whether you're busy, and you have no idea why I'm calling. We have to open Schrodinger's box every time, having a conversation to figure out whether it's OK to have a conversation. Plus, voice calls are emotionally high-bandwidth, which is why it's so weirdly exhausting to be interrupted by one. (We apparently find voicemail even more excruciating: Studies show that more than a fifth of all voice messages are never listened to.)That last point is a really interesting one. One of the "features" of the "always on" society is the fact that we're actually ending up with better tools for managing our time -- and the "old" telephone system really doesn't fit into that setup. Thompson notes in the piece that he simply won't answer calls that aren't scheduled -- and I've been reaching the same stance lately myself. I actually find it odd when people call me without contacting me first to set up a time to call. If anything, it almost feels "rude."
The telephone, in other words, doesn't provide any information about status, so we are constantly interrupting one another. The other tools at our disposal are more polite. Instant messaging lets us detect whether our friends are busy without our bugging them, and texting lets us ping one another asynchronously. (Plus, we can spend more time thinking about what we want to say.) For all the hue and cry about becoming an "always on" society, we’re actually moving away from the demand that everyone be available immediately.
Of course, some of this could also be corrected by better technology -- such as allowing a phone to indicate some of your status, such as whether or not you're busy. Better yet, would be a system that automatically built in a scheduling feature if someone wanted to talk to you.
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Filed Under: efficiency, phone calls, use
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Do you always answer your telephone, no matter what you're doing? If so, do you always give the caller a minimum of three minutes, or do you sometimes schedule a call or conference for later?
Think about it.
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My take: If you won't take a phone call from me, give me your e-mail. If you won't let me e-mail, then our continued correspondence must not be important. I'm not going to be forced into "texting" just because somebody else insists on using nothing other than some silly faddish form of technology.
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:Lobo Santo the Futurist
The future is bandwidth. 1 good internet connection replaces all of these dead-end technologies.
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While this will work fine for people with smartphones + data, it would be useless for anything else. phones are nice for emergencies, or when the subject is too complicated for txting/im and too time sensitive for email.
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Actually, and I think the main point of Thompson's article; I'm rather of the opinion that a land line doesn't do communication all that well. Of course, one can add four-way calling and indication when a third party wants to connect and a whole bevy of other options, at additional cost. But its no substitute for a cell phone. I think the main point of the article is spot on; telephones are essentially a thin loop of copper with a pair of amplifiers and a battery connected in series. The technology is 150 years old and limited. If I'm lost in the wilderness w/a cell phone I at least have the chance of stepping into cell and being able to make a call. My land line at home isn't going to help me at all, even if its set to forward calls.
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they won't. that's why fewer and fewer people use landlines in their private lives. i expect a similar trend to slowly creep into our professional lives as well.
the landline phone is a very simple/inexpensive endpoint attached a very complex/expensive network. the internet is pretty much the exact opposite.
I mean telephones don't really push that much data above the signals for the phone number (since most land line phones are circuit switched, not packet switched) and for voice.
exactly. plain old telephones, and the 100 year old network that they run on, have been mostly (though not entirely) obsoleted by newer communications technologies.
developing nations don't bother with landline networks and are opting for mobile voice and data networks instead. this wasn't an accident.
The reason land lines are so reliable is that they do one thing only and they do that well: make and receive voice phone calls.
no, the landline network is so reliable because the telephone companies spared no expense in making it that way, including building it's own separate power grid that they controlled to keep it running in an emergency. that was great when the wired telephone was the only means of communication other than post. today there are multiple wireless and radio systems for voice and multiple methods for accessing the internet, so that kind of expensive reliability just isn't necessary anymore.
landlines are expensive, inefficient, and lack features compared to pretty much every other method of communication, especially those that run on top of the internet.
While this will work fine for people with smartphones + data, it would be useless for anything else. phones are nice for emergencies, or when the subject is too complicated for txting/im and too time sensitive for email.
you are looking at this from the wrong perspective. phones, or rather, real time, two-way audio communication, will always be around, but they will be relegated to what they are best suited for. the same is true for paper books, CD's, broadcast television, the desktop personal computer, and pretty much every other 20th century technological advance that is being displaced (though probably not replaced) by a cheaper, faster, more mobile, or more efficient digital alternative.
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Re: land lines and text
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Next patent from Apple?
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my 'status' is my business
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Forget landlines
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Re: Forget landlines
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Crap, I'm old
And you'll all probably hate my personal favourite: face-to-face conversations.
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Re: Crap, I'm old
while that is true, how many telephone conversations can you have at one time without asking someone to hold?
in that same vein, how often do you use a speakerphone/headset get things done/goof off while you sit on a conference call or on hold?
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Re: Crap, I'm old
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I hate it when...
It seems over the past year the response of "That day/time should be fine, why don't we touch base in a few days to see what our schedules are."
After the third time; I often stop following up. As a specific example:
Wednesday: "Yeah, I should be able to get together for lunch next week. Let's touch base early next week to find out."
"Sunday: "Yeah, I should be able to get together this week, let's touch base on Tuesday to finalize plans."
"Tuesday: Yeah, I should be able to get together, let's touch base tomorrow...."
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Is it for old people? You bet. I am one, and I'd rather have that than try to use some stupid 1" keypad with buttons smaller than my fingernails to text someone. Besides, right now I hear better than I see, making the telephone a way more useful contraption from my point of view.
There's nothing wrong with the phone...if you don't want to be interrupted, turn the ringer off. Here's the thing...if you answer, your available, if you don't...you're not. What's the big deal?
I gotta wonder sometimes...progress is not always necessarily better. Take the cell phone (literally - take it please)... people actually expect you to have it with you and ON all the time. And to be honest, if I am outside or on the boat or shopping...I don't want to be answering a phone. THAT'S why I go out - to get away from it.
My cell sits in a drawer...turned off 90% of every year I've had it.
PS: I hope NEVER to have a video phone...people do NOT need to see me in my jammies at 3:00am when they call the wrong number looking for a taxi.
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So were horse & buggies but that doesn't mean they're more useful and efficient than automobiles for most people.
Just because something is old and been around for a long time doesn't mean it's the apex of what could be.
And your home phone is always on. You have to LEAVE THE HOUSE to be free from the phone. I just don't answer it.
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And everything you said about home phones also applies to cell phones. Don't wanna answer it? Turn the ringer off.
And if you have a home phone, people 'expect you to have it ON all the time'. To be honest, if I am relaxing at home, I don't want to be answering a phone, no matter what kind it is. :P And my home phone was constantly lost and dead 90% of the time.
Now, with a cell phone, I can text my entire family at the same time with details of our family gatherings, and know that they all get it, and that they'll all have it in writing to refer to later. It's great!
Also, a landline can't help me when I'm on the go, in my car, running errands, at work, with my kids... In other words, when it's most important for me to be able to communicate, I can communicate. Can't do that with a land line.
I can't imagine being in an accident or having car trouble with my kids and no cell phone. In Oklahoma heat, that's a big, big deal, and I thank God for cell phones. Also, I travel alot and being able to speak to my kids at night, find directions to where I need to go, or a telephone number to where I'm going if I'm lost, and get traffic and weather advisories is awesome.
Face it. Cell phones are a giant improvement, but no one is forcing you to get one.
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As far as going out on the boat, just turn it off, and take it with you. You never know if you are going to have to call home and let them know you are going to be late, or that you caught a nice fish for dinner, or...
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I sell insurance and I answer every call, myself, by the third ring, 24/7, and I let my customers know that if they call me I will answer by the third ring 24/7. The result: I save a lot of time not chasing people down and I get fewer calls during the week and rarely any on the weekend.
Many people call with minor BS that takes only a second handle and I would rather handle it right then than chase them around after a voicemail Sometimes people call with a major problem and I would rather handle that right then than chase them around after a voicemail. So I save a lot of time by handling stuff right away.
But why do I get less calls? This seems counter intuitive. I believe there is a whole class of people out there who like to play cat and mouse by leaving messages.
I got a call on a Sunday and I answered. The caller was surprised that I answered and asked me to hang up so that she could leave a message. I said no worries let's take care of it now. All she had was some question about a line on her bill she wasn't reading rightly. It really upset her that I took care of it then instead of calling her back on Monday. She's never called back except during business hours.
I guess if people really believe you are going to answer the phone then they make sure not to call unless they are really prepared to talk.
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If it's business, you should answer the phone. It's just good business.
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Phone Calls are for Old People? Just not Efficient Enough
Whatever the case, I gotta admit that this is the very first blog article of yours that I 100% disagree with. In point of view, it's a boat load of BS.
While I had my cell phone I infinitely preferred that some one just call me, and forget about texting me. When I had text messaging on my business cell phone at least 90% of all text messages were pure drivel, for which I had the unwanted pleasure of also paying for. It annoyed me so much that I very quickly turned text messaging off, as in totally unavailable. Thereafter my cell phone was strictly a 'voice only' phone and if someone wanted to 'text' me they could damn well just send me an email on their own dime.
One of the pleasures of selling my business and retiring was the absolute joy I had in smashing it into pieces with a hammer and tossing it into the nearest garbage can. Having a cell phone was a business necessity, but not a necessity I enjoyed. Plus, after 5 years with AT&T, it was also quite enjoyable to tell AT&T to take their contract "early cancellation" fee and shove it where the sun didn't shine.
But you were right about one thing, voice mail is sheer unadulterated torture. I can't avoid it when calling out, but if any incoming calls start off with automated voice the phone is immediately hung up. As you said, it's very rude. I'm one, of probably millions, who detest and abhor voice mail in any its forms.
If anybody ever invents and markets a phone that can, on incoming calls, automatically detect automated voice and immediately hang the phone up, I will buy it in a heart beat and hang the expense!!! Just think of all the asshole (pardon my French) politicians, and fly-by-night charities, that I'd never have to spend another second listening to!!!
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Re: Phone Calls are for Old People? Just not Efficient Enough
And now my family, including the old folks, use text messaging to plan our family events, and everyone has a written plan, at the same time. Pre-text messaging, I had to call everyone, hope they were home, hope that they remembered my call, hope they called me back, talk to the next person, call everyone else back when someone had a problem with timing or whatever, and so on. It took days to plan gatherings. Now I do it in less than an hour, and I'm reading Techdirt during that hour. :)
Also, a landline can't help me when I'm on the go, in my car, running errands, at work, with my kids... In other words, when it's most important for me to be able to communicate, I can communicate. Can't do that with a land line.
I can't imagine being in an accident or having car trouble with my kids and no cell phone. In Oklahoma heat, that's a big, big deal, and I thank God for cell phones. I travel alot and being able to speak to my kids at night, find directions to where I need to go, or a telephone number to where I'm going if I'm lost, and get traffic and weather advisories is awesome.
Face it. Cell phones are a giant improvement.
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I actually had the best man for my wedding back out because I wasn't available to chat on the phone with him enough, and he wouldn't talk through e-mail or text ever. He would just leave me 3 voicemails a day while I was working that I wouldn't listen to because he was just complaining about how I never answered the phone.
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Technology may make things easier, but it also turns people into whining babies.
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So, in the past 3 years it's less painful. But before that, I would fill up my voicemail box because so no one else could leave me a voicemail so that I didn't have to keep listening to stupid messages just to delete them.
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Believe it or not, there is a MASSIVE push where I work to move AWAY from email and all electronic forms of communication, because 9 times out of 10 you will get way more information over the phone from the client, or in person from an Engineer, than can be requested in an email.
People think different on the phone - they're on their toes, they speak off the cuff, and generally convey in a different stream of consciousness than is functionally possible via electronic form. You may need to explain something to somebody that is complex enough to take 10 paragraphs, but why do that when you can just explain it in an entirely more human fashion than via email or IM.
Moreover, the following has me scratching my head:
"For all the hue and cry about becoming an "always on" society, we’re actually moving away from the demand that everyone be available immediately."
Is that why 90% of the folks you see on the subway, in a taxi, driving a car, walking, waiting for a bus are on fiddling with their Blackberry/iPhone/Android checking email/sending texts/you name it? I just don't buy the fact that we are in the INFORMATION age, yet somehow LESS information is being passed amongst us with regards to communication. Just don't buy it, unless I'm missing something.
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Yes, exactly. They're reading the news, checking their e-mail, and texting when it's convenient for them, not when someone else demands that they be available.
You uhh... kind of proved the point there.
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Also, where did you get this idea from? I don't see anyone else mentioning it, or saying that your statement is factual.
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Of course, some of this could also be corrected by better technology -- such as allowing a phone to indicate some of your status, such as whether or not you're busy.
We used to have that before mobile phones, call waiting, and voice mail. We called it a busy signal. All you had to do was take the phone off the hook and your callers would have some annoyance judo preformed upon them by means of a raucous buzzing in their ear that let them know that you were currently unable or uninterested in taking their call.
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Taking the phone off of the hook keeps EVERYONE from contacting you, not just people that you don't want contacting you.
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Lots of reasons. The world will still turn.
Maybe I am going to be in the bedroom for the next 3-4 hours.
Some things are more important to me than any emergency you could possibly have (Although, had you called, instead of posting this message, I would have got back to you yesterday instead of today).
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I was once without power for almost 2 weeks but my landline worked the whole time.
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Re: POTS and emergency access
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Re: Re: POTS and emergency access
Several years ago we had 4 hurricanes mosey over our area over the course of about 2-3 weeks. Lost electrical power for several days, but the POT remained unaffected. Moreover, even if electrical power had not been lost, the damage to cell towers turned most cell phones into paper weights until the towers were repaired.
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Re: Re: POTS and emergency access
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Old people!?
Don't assume that because someone has been around longer than you that they aren't hip or aren't dealing with the very same issues that impact you. Some "old people" have actually been around long enough that many of your "new" issues have been seen before in only slightly different guises. I was talking to Alex Bell about the "ringer problem" once ...
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Get off my domain name, old peeps.
Then the posts that start with "I'm old" and end with smashing phones with hammers, or using phrases like "stupid little keyboards". C'mon ladies and germs, why the hate? If you don't like it, fine. I'm probably going to really hate teleportation when I reach your age, because the point-a-to-point-b method will work after a tornado knocks the power out. (That last bit was sarcasm, btw)
Though, I have to say, having every house I've ever lived in pre-wired with land lines makes it very easy to pipe music into every room of the house on the cheap. Thank you, Mr. Bell! :P
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texting
To be sure, I'm an introvert and a phone call can be a disruption-a stressful aggravation even, but its very effictive when need be.
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you are all stupid
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Re: you are all stupid
I think you might have missed the point. We're trying to solve that problem, where the other party "doesn't know if I am busy."
If somebody wants to talk, I prefer to get an email or text message saying "Please call when you have a chance." This is a much more reasonable request than the RING RING TALK NOW that calling implies.
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The real secret? We hate people communicating TO us.
2) Email sucks. For the past 10 years of my work life I've had around 200 NON-spam messages per day asking for as response, action, etc. This is not a tolerable work environment when you're also expected to go to meetings and... oh yeah, do work. Email encourages people to ask you to do things. It's like the ding-dong-ditch of the professional world.
3) Voicemail sucks. I think in the 80s or something people got all into voicemail. "Look I can set up 20 different messages to tell people where I am!" In the 90s I worked in this agency where all the older account people literally changed their greeting 10 times a day. And let's not forget the whole crappy-ass weird numbering system they all have? "To delete, press *76. To save, press #717. To forward, press 34. To page the sender, press 5*1*.... THAT IS NOT A VALID COMMAND. Please press *76 to save. Press 4#3719 to add a forwarding message and CC your supervisor. Press 3.14 to commit suicide."
I'm actually all for the phone now. I used to be all for the email... it was like "write it down so I can make it a task and also have a paper trail and be all asynchronous." Then once everyone got all into the email, it became so fucking burdensome I stopped answering most of them. I noticed that I SENT more emails than I responded to, and I knew I had a problem.
As for the phone... I let my home voicemail fill up and now no one can leave a message. My cell... I lose it most of the time. Granted, I'm kind of antisocial, but I finally figured out THE BIG SECRET:
WE WANT ALL OUR COMMUNICATIONS TO BE OUTBOUND, not inbound. No matter what the technology used, we prefer to communicate when, where, and how WE want to. All communication directed towards us--unless it's from some hottie you met in the last 3 months--is annoying.
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Sorry to dig this one up, but it really struck a chord in me.
I hope someone saw the contrast in my first sentence.
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Texting is better
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COMPLETELY AGREE
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