I was reading about this else-where and it’s funny how many people believe in SMS over voice mail or phone calls. Someone even used the excuse that they have too many voice mails and it’s too difficult to navigate so they never check them.
Did you know that with One NZ, you can use the number pad buttons to skim through messages? If someone reads out their number but you miss it, then you should be able to skim back 10 or 15 seconds and listen again. I read this on the Vodafone website a while ago but never used the feature. Check with your telco and see if this is available.
I’m a believer in phone calls because back-and-forth texting is tedious and stupid. Currently I’m blocking all calls that aren’t in my contacts because I’m not likely to hear from winz or any employers and there are too many scam calls. I get a scam call every week it seems.
The latest scam is scammers pretending to be Binance account security. It uses a robo call and it comes from a New Zealand cellphone number. 6 years ago I installed an app which blocks all international calls, but these ones could be local, even if the number is spoofed. Really annoying! So now I block everything, but I still see notifications for blocked calls… I think. Anyway it lists blocked calls in the recent calls list, so if I miss something I can allow calls again and receive it.
Overall I love phone calls. If I’m friends with someone and they act like a cunt and never want to answer their phone, then it isn’t really worth being friends with them. People have become massive pussies ever since smartphones existed and now we have multiple generations of anger or anxiety-addled mentally ill people who don’t answer their phone and they get angry if you send them a message too. Why bother even giving me your number if you’re just going to be a cunt about it? Just live in your own world and stop pretending to care about anyone else lol
I understand the problem with spam calls but this isn’t an excuse to be a complete pussy. Years ago there was a book called The Dumbest Generation which described these problems. It said that younger generations sit in the room behind the computer and only communicate electronically. If you want to meet with a friend, you have to book a time slot. The same thing with adults too. Every year it gets worse, and now everyone in my city is going mental about traffic and expenses and everything else.
Having friends or trying to arrange socials is so much less fun these days. People aren’t only boring, they’re also arrogant and self-absorbed.
Can’t answer a phone call
Can’t read a 4 paragraph email
Can’t be bothered even politely declining an invitation with an understandable reason
This society is hopeless at every age and at every level.
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i’m pretty much getting rid of txt and sms. I’ve got 0 use for them these days. If I get a call I just hangup because 99% its a scammer.
I ignored a likely spam call and it went to my voice mail… FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU! I swear when I press ‘5’ to delete or whatever the code is, it still doesn’t delete. It says press ‘blah’ to delete but when I press it, I hear “message saved”.
I think what you’re saying has a lot of merit in a lot of ways. But being one of those people who sits behind a computer a lot and ‘talks’ electronically I can tell you first hand I am really am talking a lot of the time - I just hop in group calls in discord. It’s a lot like walking in to the social door room back in college. When people are around and I wanna chat I just go in and chat. If no one’s around and I wanna chat I’ll still hop in the voice channel and people will join if they want to chat too.
That’s where the nerve is a bit struck with me regarding your comment on sitting behind the computer. To what extent are people actually not using voice coms - as in how many people who spend lots of time on a dedicated computer are also just doing chat through discord instead of old school 1:1 calls?
Maybe I’m also just one of those pussies who hates answering the phone, but like hit me up, we’ll get together and go grab some boba if you want that one on one communication but otherwise just hop in the group chat. It’s a bit entitled to expect friends be most comfortable communicating the way that works best for you no? Round hole square peg and all. I happen to think phone calls are more tedious then back and forth texting, but the different modes certainly have different uses.
The younger generation still is generally cooked and that worries me quite a bit. The attention span is a big one. A 4 paragraph email isn’t even really that long. Heck, this reply is somewhere at that length. If you and I were talking on the phone this specific exchange would be like 5 minutes or something!
I don’t use discord because I end up joining a dozen groups, which in turn have a dozen channels each. And it’s so hard to scroll the pages. Really good if you’re then when things are happening, but otherwise really bad for archiving. Phone call and SMS are at least a standard and you don’t need anything special to use them. Discord, WhatsApp and everything else is an extra account.
I get that! That’s a pretty good point I hadn’t considered either [on archiving].
I just looked at your name too lol. That’s totally fair xD. No need to manage a password vault if you’re able to get by with standard telephone/sms
If I start using discord even for voice chats then soon people will insist that I install it on my phone, which I’m not going to do. Each time I’ve installed discord app I’ve always uninstalled it. I could count on one hand how many voice chats I’ve had on Xbox in 2025. I have a USB keyboard permanently plugged in. Recently I played The Ascent with some guys which was pretty cool but one of them is working 12 hours shifts so I don’t know if it’ll happen again.
