Interactive voice response and the (dying) art of telephone communication
How often do you see a young person talking on their phone… not using, but specifically talking on their phone?
I grew up in the era where phones were pretty much attached to the wall, often in the kitchen, as far from a private space as you can get, and privacy only extended as far as the cord would stretch, and believe me even when it was really stretched beyond its physical limitations, it never reached as far as you wanted it to, and any hope of a private conversation required secret code.
But the phone was the communication life line- you wanted to talk to friends- you called them; you wanted to make an appointment — you called; you wanted to inquire about a job- you called, and sometimes you even cold called- God forbid! Imagine calling someone you didn’t even know! But growing up we had the attitude ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ I guess there was always the possibility of rejection- but I don’t recall that really bothering me too much. It was what we did in the 80’s, you connected with another voice at the other end of the line! Simple really. You didn’t overthink the phone call, you just did it.
Now, I hadn’t really given this talking to other people on the phone thing too much…
