The Bootylicious Diva Muse

O. 9 October 2008 Life, Random Musings | Comments

Here I am texting as usual.

I have to admit something to myself, and to the world. I am not a phone person. I do not like talking on the phone or calling people. Truly, it has been this way all of my life. I just never call people, in fact, calling people for any reason is my absolute least favorite thing to do.

My cell phone is usually at the bottom of my purse, and if it is not, the ringer is off. And if I am using it, I am usually texting or surfing the net. Moreover, I am not one of those people who feels the need to pick up a phone on the first ring…or even the second. In fact, a ringing phone doesn’t bother me at all, unless the caller ID shows that it’s a telemarketer, which incidentally was my first real job. Go figure?

My distaste for talking on the phone is the reason why husband dear had to make all of the doctor’s appointments when the kids were small, ( I admit I have gotten better with this one). It is probably also the reason why I have not called the Arbonne lady yet to tell her that I really didn’t hear anything negative about the products, but that I have just had a lot on my plate lately and to add anything else would probably send me over the edge.

I would rather drive all the way to a person’s house to have a conversation than sit with a telephone to my ear. And I have also discovered that I can have very full, enriching relationships with people through, text message, email, and IM without ever hearing their voice. And it doesn’t seem to have any adverse effect on our relationship when we see each other in person.

Having said this though, some of the people that I love the most do not share my enthusiasm for modern technology making communication really difficult. My Dad is 73 years old and can’t be bothered with pushing little buttons, my sister only uses her computer at work because she has to, and my best friend who lives in Germany was still writing checks as late as 2006. It is a safe bet to assume that she ain’t IMing me or going on Facebook anytime soon.

I am constantly being fussed at by non-tech savvy family members for not returning calls, or not calling in the first place and because I don’t regularly check my voicemail, I have been accused of deliberately ignoring people.

I think that one reason I have such a phone aversion is because the majority of the bad news that I have received in my life has been by phone. Rarely have I ever gotten bad news by email, usually just forwards and spam. And it is difficult to say something devastating by text message. It would be bizarre to receive a text message that someone died, especially since most text messages are written in acronyms. LOL!

Don’t get me wrong, I am trying to get better at talking on the phone. Over the years, I really have improved. I do make those appointments now, I call the kids’ school when they are late or absent, and I do take all business and professional calls.

So maybe in some ways, I am really a phone person afterall. Maybe what I really have an aversion to is the nonsense that often comes along with talking on the phone like gossip, complaining, and silly things like that.

In any case, I am still holding out hope for the sake of our relationship that my 73 year old Dad will learn how to use text messaging…ok, seriously, I’m not holding my breath. ( ;

So now you tell me, I can take it. Am I just weird because I am phone shy, or is this something that other people suffer with as well? I would love to hear your opinions.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!