Flammie A Pirinen on github pages
One of the things I am often surprised is that people still use telephones like mid 20th century: for semi-anonymous instant voice messaging. Yeah, you could argue that phone numbers nowadays show up on phones and sometimes are assigned a name by address book, in practice this happens rarely since people on your address book will know better than to phone you unless it’s really urgent and no other choices work.
It’s a weird thing because it always interrupts you, unlike most forms of communication, telephone calls come unexpected and you are supposed to answer without knowing who is calling. This is bizarre. And a well-known problem in the media; almost 90 % of calls I receive are telemarketing, so picking up a phone from unknown number is like reading spam mails without the option of stopping in the middle or deleting.
Audio-only communication is very inefficient, it doesn’t usually leave a log you can look back into, and phone audio quality is very bad. Add this to the fact that I do not talk my native language or my secondary language on phone almost ever, it’s likely a language I am just about learning. And guess what is most common to be absolutely required to be phoned about? Schedules of important meetings, taxes, banking, renovations and stuff where you absolutely have to understand and communicate correctly and remember right. With easy confusables like dates times numbers and sums. Do you also know what you cannot do easily while on the phone? Use the calendar or calculator, that is, on, the, mobile, phone. Joy.
And one of the most absurd thing in the whole thing is that boomers and extroverts really do seem to think they are doing you a favour by calling you on telephone; in Finland the dentist company megaklinikka or the hotel chains like omena and forenom are branded as cheap, because you can reserve your hotel or dentist online, and receive emails and sms as confirmations and door codes, this is viewed as cheap as opposed to insisting on calling you. In fact international companies do the same: ibis budget lets you do online booking and instant checkout, ibis and more expensive brands offer you the service of having to stand in queue and talk with people. Like, things that my generation and younger would pay extra for, like not having to deal with people, could easily be paid extras instead of vice versa.
Last dentist I tried to order a time for with a web form sent me an email saying We have reserved a time for you and will be calling you shortly to discuss about that blah blah blah, why would you not just include the time in mail? Emails work, sms work, phone calls are not easy and fast, they are intrusive, time consuming and confusing. Like 8 out of 10 times I need to figure out if I am actually available at some specific time I just make things up, because I cannot access my calendar that is also on my phone. Just let me look my calendar in peace while reading an email or doodle of potential times…
In summary, don’t call me, I won’t call you.