When did it become so awkward to talk on the phone?
In this day and age of e-mail, texting, instant messaging and whatever else — has it become impossible to speak with somebody on the phone?
I’ve never had an issue chatting on the phone. I still don’t. While I don’t long and in-depth conversations on a phone, the casual call shouldn’t be weird. But it seems to be. Even with old friends.
And maybe it’s not the call itself.
It’s ending it.
I’ve noticed in the last month or two how odd it feels to end a call.
It’s almost like — when should you end it? How should you end it? And is it the right time?
Phone calls were never awkward when using rotary-dial phones! (photo courtesy chelle at MorgueFile)
Sheesh.
When I was a kid, calls were simple.
“Hey, you want to go play some ball?”
“Sure.”
“Meet you at the park in 20 minutes.”
— click —
Just like that. The call was on and then done. See ya, bye.
Now the calls can be filled with fine content. But then the conversation starts to waver. Something doesn’t feel right. It’s a moment when you know the call should end.
But how do you do it?
You might stammer through a few things before getting off the phone. Maybe the person on the other side will do the same. Or maybe they don’t feel this awkwardness.
Maybe it’s only me?
We used to make funny prank calls via pay phones. That was before caller ID. And it only cost us like five cents. Heck, now it’s hard as can be just to find a pay phone. After all, you can’t text from a pay phone.
Do you remember rotary phones? I remember them. They were awesome and they are gone now. The sound as you actually dialed somebody was really cool. Then came push-button phones. Everything came crashing down after that. Voice mail. Call waiting. Cell phones. Texting. Face time. Skype.
The list goes on and on.
I’m not saying it’s bad — technology that is. I’m just saying, as a society, we’ve seemed to lost the ability to have a good phone call and end it when it needs to be ended.
I don’t see it getting any easier in the future, either.
It would appear I’m just going to have to deal with it. After all, phones aren’t going away. Neither is technology. Sure, some people will avoid technology for as long as they can. But as they get sucked into that black hole, the conversations will turn from fruitful to awkward.
I’ve even caught myself telling somebody to “text me” information instead of calling.
Realize this — it’s not that I don’t want to talk to somebody. It’s that I don’t know how to stop talking in a natural way anymore.
Yes, that silence at the end of a call really bothers me.
This is just another “art” form being lost to time. Or is it? I don’t know. I could just be crazy. Maybe it’s all in my head.
But here I go again.
I have no idea how to end this post. It’s like I’m on the phone.
See ya, bye.
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