Specifically, 53 per cent of mobile phone users still, inexplicably, prefer being called to texted. The numbers switch when you factored in for usage; 55 per cent of people who send and receive more than 50 texts per day prefer to be texts to calls, up from 31 per cent overall. It just so happens that 50 texts per day is the average for the 18-24 bracket, so it’s pretty clear how this breaks down age-wise.
There’s obviously a place for phone calls. Catching up with family, long-distance relationships, letting the family of the heiress you’re ransoming know you’re serious — some situations call for, well, a call. But if there’s no immediacy or required intimacy to a call, I feel like it’s better left as a text. What about you guys? [Pew Internet]
Jacob
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:04 PMMost people are socially awkward tech industry workers though.. :P
Jacob
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:05 PM*aren’t. D’oh.
TheTom
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:10 PMI find it a personal affront if someone takes the trouble to call me, but DOESNT leave a voicemail message. Especially when it’s a work call (Im a journalist…)
Mike
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:47 PMI’ll just leave this here
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nvTplFDoeo0/S2M-HPtRepI/AAAAAAAADjo/otuqF0jYk6g/s1600-h/2010-01-29-38787f7.png
Sicarius123
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 1:44 PMThis only annoys me when it is from a private number.
Otherwise my voicemail usually clogs up because I’ll just call the person back.
poltak
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:13 PMI don’t like being called simply due to the fact that I find it a lot harder to make decisions on the spot without thinking about it. Pondering for 10mins or so over a text question is a hell of a lot better than making a quick decision during a call.
But for simply chatting, I’d call over texting any day.
Cray
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:24 PMtexting by far. I hate voicemail, with having to go into an automated inbox to retrieve it, sitting through lengthy messages and then having to punch in numbers to save or delete messages.
I stopped checking my voicemail in the hopes that people would take the hint.
I’ll take a phonecall though, if it’s family or urgent.
Yet I’d much prefer a text.
MotorMouth
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 4:17 PMYou know you can turn your voicemail off, don’t you? I’ve never enabled mine, ever. If I see a missed call, I return it when I can. Simple. Even if I had voicemail, I’d never bother to check it.
z3d
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:24 PMAbout a year ago, I changed my voice mail message to be something like -
“Hi, I don’t check my voice mail so don’t leave a message but if I know you, I’ll call you back. Otherwise send me an email or a text. Thanks”.
If someone can’t be arsed texting me, it can’t be that important. Almost all my missed calls are people I know leaving me a message “hi it’s XXXXX. Call me back”, which I already knew from the name on the missed call.
HIGHLY recommend it.
MrTaco
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:25 PMI generally prefer calls because texting is a pain in the arse to try and squeeze everything down into so many characters. And it’s even worse when you’re trying to organise something, everything takes so much longer as you wait for the back-and-forth cycle to complete itself. Far easy to have that instant feedback and sort out whatever issue is at hand in a couple of minutes rather than a couple of hours. Or even days, depending on the person you’re messaging.
Drew
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:25 PMIf it’s not important a txt is better so I’m not interrupted at work and can reference it later.
Jason
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:29 PMI really don’t like texting either, however I respond to both in different ways. If I get called or miss a call I usually respond right away. Under the assumption that if it was important enough for them to call, it is important enough for me to reply. If it is a text I reply whenever I feel like it, because it was not important enough for them to call so it is not important enough for me to reply.
But my reason for not liking texts is because I find it very rude socially. For example friends of mine will be out to dinner and they will be on their phones texting or falling out of the conversation constantly to reply to texts. Then these same people will ask to repeat what was missed during the conversation while they were texting.
I find this very rude, and usually tell them if the texting conversation is of such great importance they should call them. On more than one occasion I have taken their phones from them and told them unless it is an dire emergency there is no need to be on the phone. Using the same line of reasoning that if it was not important enough for the other party to have called then it is not important for them to so immediately reply, thus placing the people at the same table with them of lower social importance to that of the person on the other end of the text conversation.
Now bare in mind, I do agree there are times when texting in this circumstance does have a role. Like on nights where the venue is too overly loud to make a effective phone call to give directions to people who have not arrived yet, etc.
All to often this is not the case and it is just people chit chatting back and forth via text, which is very annoying when others have to sit at the same table not so patiently waiting for time to converse with you between texts.
Sicarius123
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 1:47 PMYou have taken your friends phones from them unless it is an emergency?
It sounds like you are the socially awkward one in the group.
z3d
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 3:11 PMi’m struggling to believe anyone would allow him to take their phone. IF he ever were to try it, he’d quickly learn just how much of a bad idea it was in the real world.
Jason
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 3:33 PMReally z3d, you have never handed your phone to someone when they have said “Hey let me see that for a minute.”
That is how easy it is to have someone you know take your phone away from you. And since it is done playfully to prove a point, any tough guy stance in retaliation would make person look like even more of an ass amongst his/her friend if he or she had already been disrespecting everyone else by over texting.
z3d
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 4:03 PMwell.. as long as it’s done playfully.. lol
Jason
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 3:16 PMYeah I have multiple times. I have given them fair warning before doing so, and other people who were out with us were pleased that I did so.
Its not social awkwardness at all, I call it not being afraid to act on what everyone else was clearly thinking. There was a vibe that everyone else found it to be rude, (that persons nose buried in the phone) and I acted on that vibe.
Its not like I took it away for good, just long enough for them to realize they were really being disrespectful of the people they were supposed to be out to see.
I look at it this way, if I am going to take time away from my busy schedule to go out with you for dinner or drinks, don’t disrespect me and everyone else at the table by burying your face in your phone texting people all night.
Merv
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 9:34 AMYeah go Jason! I can’t stand people grabbing the phone and checking dome crappy fb notification, or stupid text. Never thought about taking their phone off them in a easy “can I see that for a sec” thanks
Wok
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:45 PMNo voice mail.
Call if it’s more than a simple statment.
dazza
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:55 PMif you dont want people to leave a voicemail message, why not just get rid of it, theres no rule to say you have to have it on your service
Frank M
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:55 PMMany years ago, some genius who worked at a telco, came up with a way of charging customers for each and every sentence in a conversation. It appears it’s still working to this day. I wish I had 20 cents for every text message sent, I’d own Telstra by now.
Borganstein
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 10:17 PMYou still pay for texts? I went unlimited years ago…..
Ext2
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 1:02 PMFor me whether i prefer to receive a message or a call depends on who/what/where/when. However, i’m lazy and usually call people because its less effort and i don’t have to wait around for a reply.
Andrew
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 1:05 PMMy rule usually is, If it cant be conveyed in 160 characters or less, I call. The exception being, if its time critical what i need the recipient to know.
Goose
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 1:18 PMI can’t stand voicemail but because I am often out of service it’s a nesessary evil, especially for business.
I call rather than email people for work. And I never text for work. I hate conducting business over email or text.d
anonymouse
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 1:43 PMI tried to organise going out with a few of my friends on the weekend. I sent out a group text message, and NO ONE replied! (Forever alone, etc.) The problem with text messages is that they ARE too easy to ignore, and forget about.
Sicarius123
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 1:45 PMWow, there are a lot of people here who don’t seem to realise they can disable your voicemail service.
If you actually hate people leaving you a message, to the point of some people recording a voicemail message saying don’t leave me a message, why don’t you just cancel it?
z3d
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 3:43 PMi used to have it disabled but people would keep trying to ring me again every few minutes or try various other office numbers if i didn’t pick up. with this message i end up getting people to either hang up and wait for me to get back to them or sms/email if it’s urgent. it’s really useful when i’m flat out at work or not in a position to speak. it actually works great.
Merv
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 9:38 AMI prefer a voicemail that the caller has a specific question or statement. Not ‘call me back’ those annoy me. Never had a problem with the iPhone visual voicemail havent had to call the voicemail service for 4 years.
Matte
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 2:03 PMText is great for one-way communication: announcements and status updates. Some things just need to be discussed. Then I want the phone call, but I want people to be clear about what they want to talk about and get to the point. : )
olearymo
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 3:02 PMThe fact is, on a mobile phone, calls are NEVER 100% unbroken and are never as good quality as a landline.
This alone means I very rarely make calls on my mobile, and hate receiving them.
MotorMouth
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 4:24 PMThat’s absurd! Of course mobile calls are as clear and uninterrupted as landline calls, except maybe from the car. I couldn’t tell you the last time I had a call drop out from home or work or any other static location. I think you either need a better phone or a new telco (or both). I ditched my landline a decade ago and don’t miss it one bit.
olearymo
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 10:21 AMYou must have a magic phone sir.
I’m talking about my experience over several phones (Android, motorola, nokia, going back to pre-smart) over the years. They use digital compression. It’s never as clear as a landline. So I don’t know what you’re using, but hold onto it!
Perhaps I’m just more fussy. I hardly think it warranted you calling my statement ‘absurd’.
Andrew
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 3:11 PMJust don’t video call me. It’s like the uncanny valley of human interaction.
Andrew
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 3:16 PMBasically, try not to be an Asperger’s baby. Everyone inately knows which is the most appropriate. It may differ depending on age, social dyanmics, familiarity with the other person, the nature of your association, whatever.. use your best judgement and don’t be a douche. Weigh that up against using the right tool for the job and communicate accordingly.
Ardi
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 4:26 PMI don’t like writing long text messages. If I can answer in 10 LETTERS or less, then I would, otherwise I prefer calling them…
MotorMouth
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 4:31 PMThe problem I find it that most people don’t know when to use one or the other. Anything that requires more than a simple response – “yes”, “no”, “OK” or “6:30 at my place, baby!” is generally much more easily handled by a phone call. That said, my guiding principle is cost. A phone call has a minimum cost of about $1.10 on my plan, which is a bit more than 4 25c text messages. So if I can do something with two SMS messages (plus two replies), I won’t call. If I think it might require more back and forth than that, I call. Exceptions are when I think the person I want to contact might not be in a position to take a call, in which case I’ll text, asking them to call me when they have a minute. Generally though, I find texting onerous, conversation effortless.
Boomzilla
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 4:59 PMMachete don’t text and neither do I.
Darko
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 5:10 PMI’d much prefer a call then a text. You can’t put much info in a text and messages can be mis-understood. You can normally gain understanding by a quick phone call in less time then it would take to write a text.
Secondly I receive about 50-100 texts a day predominantely for work. I don’t have the time to read all of them, so a quick call is much esaier.h
EMira20
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 7:21 PMObviously it depends on the situation, but if you feel the need to reach out and touch someone don’t leave a vmail msg. Would rather someone just hang up and send that text instead.