Ironically, younger generations use smartphones for everything except making phone calls.
Many people under 40 seem much more comfortable letting their fingers do the talking, using text or images, rather than speech, to communicate on the phone.
A 2023 investigation A study of more than 1,000 Australian Gen Zers aged 18 to 26 found that nearly 60 per cent dreaded making or accepting a phone call. Another study in the US found that 81% of millennials Be anxious before making a call.
Like spiders and heights, talking on the phone – with all its real-time imperfections – is a modern phobia and quickly becoming a lost art.
So what’s happening and what impact could it have on young people’s careers?
People feel trapped by phone calls
I run the journalism school at Murdoch UniversityIn few other fields of study is the ability to make quick and efficient phone calls as essential to success.
To further explore young people’s attitudes toward phone use, I conducted an informal survey of 15 college students.
Presenting my responses at the Australian Journalism Education and Research Association conference last year, I suggested that “telephobia” could be behind the loss of a key communication skill among younger generations.
Several of my students have said they find it rude to receive voice calls unexpectedly or without warning.
Some even said they didn’t answer voice calls at all, even from a parent. It was easier to let them go to voicemail and respond later via text message.
Receiving a phone call from an unknown number can be even more distressing: Why is this person calling instead of texting? Many have said that these cold calls trigger a deep fear that something is wrong.
Upon discovering that there was actually no emergency, many people felt trapped – and annoyed – that a cold call had caused unnecessary alarm.
But journalism students may still have an advantage. In a podcasting class with students from a variety of majors, I found that routine interview tasks raised anxiety levels far higher than in other classes I’ve taught in nearly a decade of teaching only journalism students.
Something intangible but important is lost in the text
It is well known, both in industry and academia, that telephone and face-to-face interviews are more effective than emails.
The ability or confidence to ask uncomfortable questions is a key part of a decent interview, with phone interviews being a second choice to a face-to-face meeting.
In-person conversations help build connections, establish trust and empathy, and convey nonverbal language.
Two studies conducted in Canada confirm this, finding that people overestimate their power of persuasion during e-mail communication. Participants made their requests either in person or by e-mail.
Both groups were equally confident that their requests would be successful, but those made face-to-face were 34 times more effective.
Skill requires greater concentration
My colleagues in the Australian media have told me that the new generation of journalists often have more technical prowess than previous generations. always Remember to pick up the phone rather than send an email when securing or conducting interviews.
In Murdoch University classrooms, we have doubled the time spent teaching the art of the interview.
We have found that students perform better and have lower anxiety when the first few lessons are devoted to practicing phone calls. The goal is to try at least 10 phone calls in class, starting with classmates and then moving on to strangers.
But in journalism schools and in the job market generally, the battle is likely to remain uphill.
According to communications researchers Leanna Kim and Sang-Hwa Oh, many new technologies hinder rather than promote voice callswhich could lead to even greater dependence on new devices.
Telephone anxiety was negatively associated with preference for telephone calls, suggesting that using an alternative communication mode, instead of a telephone call, may not simply be a matter of convenience, but an outcome of escaping anxiety.
It is despite research To show that a person’s fear of an awkward interaction often turns out to be exaggerated.
We will never go back to the days when the family landline phone sat in the hallway and there was a special chair to sit on. But voice calls will always play an important role in communication.
All the younger generations need to do is pick up the phone and make their voices heard.
Narelle Hopkin (Towie)Academic Chair of Journalism, Murdoch University
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