10 Reasons Millennials Aren’t Answering Your Phone Calls

Communication is a wonderful thing. And thanks to continual advances in technology, we’re constantly able to communicate more easily, more frequently, with more people, in more ways. As some forms of communication grow, like texting and Snapchat, it’s inevitable that older or less enjoyable forms of communication, like phone calls, will diminish. This trend is all too apparent among Millennials.

Millennials are mobile, productivity-driven, commanding of their time, and make up the majority of today’s workforce. Since answering phone calls doesn’t line up with these traits, it’s become the most diminishing form of communication. Here’s some of the more common reasons why Millennials aren’t answering your phone calls.

1. Phone Calls Are Disruptive

At no point in your day is taking a phone call not disruptive to whatever else you’re working on. It’s distracting, interrupting, and completely throws off your grove. If you take a call while you’re in the middle of a project, it could take you another 23 minutes to regain focus once you get off. Nobody wants that.

2. Phone Calls Are Presumptuous

When someone calls you, they’re assuming at least two things: 1. What they’re working on is more important than what you’re working on. 2. You have the time and don’t mind being interrupted. On many occasions one or both of these presumptions might be true. But more often than not, the caller’s being selfish, even a little insulting to the person being called. If it’s so important, just shoot a text. Texts are virtually guaranteed to be read within a few minutes, and they leave control of the conversation in the hands of the person receiving the message.

3. Phone Calls Are Time Consuming

Do you know how much time people spend on pleasantries and howdy-do’s everyday? The average person spends over 8 minutes a day just talking about the weather — the weather! Add in what the kids have been up to, what that sports team did last weekend, and what your going to be doing this weekend, and you’ve just spent ten minutes talking about nothing. Millennials don’t want to answer your calls, because there’s no telling if doing so will take ten seconds, twenty minutes, or longer. And Millennials strongly value their time.

4. Phone Calls Are Inefficient

Think about social media, about texting, even emails. You tell people what you think/need/want or give an update. That’s it. Typed and done. If there’s any follow up that needs to happen, it will happen and be handled accordingly. All of these messages take less than a minute to compose and send off. Phone calls, on the other hand, will nearly always take at least several minutes.

5. Phone Calls Are Annoying

How many times has your phone rung today? How many times have you seen someone calling you and gone “Ugh” or “Who is this?” Partially because Millennials don’t want to physically talk to people unless they have to, partially because calling someone is so presumptuous, and partially because we all still receive way too many calls, the initial reaction to seeing a phone call coming in will always be negative.

6. Phone Calls Are Stressful

Particularly if you work in a secretarial, assistant, or customer service position, phone calls can be a large stressor day-to-day. If your job is to never miss a call, it’s incredibly stressful every time that phone rings — at work or at home. You have no control over your day. These calls only bring in more things for you to do! People would rather text or email because they can do it entirely on their own time, and they can ignore these incoming messages for a few minutes until they get to a stopping point in their work.

7. Phone Calls Are Superfluous

You call someone to communicate quickly, right? There are literally hundreds of other ways and apps through which you can communicate quickly — and do it faster, to boot. Other than being able to say more than is needed to convey a point or request, there are no advantages to phone calls — except, maybe, tone and inflection, since there are still people out there who aren’t exactly proficient in grammar.

8. Phone Calls Aren’t Private

How many times have you been on a call and either had to talk more quietly, move to a different room, or ask the person to hang up and text you because you didn’t want anyone listening to your conversation? Nobody enjoys that kind of anxiety, of feeling like someone else is listening to every word you say to someone else. Because of this, many Millennials will ignore calls and simply reply through text.

9. Phone Calls Aren’t Personal

If you want to get hold of your friends, you text. If you want to schedule a meeting with an acquaintance, you email. If you’re a salesman trying to hit his numbers, you call. Phone calls aren’t personal. And in this age of business automation and digital savvy, people are always looking for a personal touch. That’s why 33% of all mobile phone usage is taken up by text messaging, and 38% is spent on social media/networking sites.

10. Phone Calls Aren’t On My Time

When someone calls you, it disrupts whatever you’re working on. Phone calls take control away from you and give it to the person calling. If you accept the phone call, you are accepting that caller’s control over you and your schedule. Millennials are productivity-driven, and want to do things on their own time. So when they don’t answer your calls, it’s not because they’re trying to be rude or ignore you. It’s because they want to keep things under their control so they can make the most out of their day.

Originally published at www.textrequest.com on November 24, 2015.