Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the seventh day of the month is "Contact."
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We had not communicated very well in the morning and I had to leave the house to go pick up a prescription for the cat from the vet's office, but Dr. BB had not taken any house keys with him. I put a set in the garage (which he could get into because he has a garage door opener) and sent him a text message with a photo of the keys.
All of our contact is through texting when Dr. BB is at work. I just checked and it looks like the last time we actually had a conversation on the phone was in December. Do you text, call, or video chat on a regular day?
Anytime that I have to call someone, it feels so weird. How did we live before texting? The hubs and I call each other if it's something that's easier to talk about that to text about, but I don't think we've ever had a phone conversation that lasted longer than a few minutes. It ain't broke!
ReplyDeleteI can't even really imagine a time before cell phones, let alone smartphones! I went through my entire undergrad experience without a cell phone, but how did we meet up at airports and restaurants and things? It just seems unfathomable now. How did our parents ask each other to pick up some eggs on the way home from work?
DeleteThat's a good interpretation of contact! We may or may not call during the day, usually not text.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I wonder if there's a generational or geographic difference in who calls and who texts!
DeleteWe text a lot, even from my den to her room. It's a good way to share snippets. This morning I texted a phone number for a reservation after we had talked about in in person earlier.
ReplyDeleteWe have only ever texted in the house when someone is sick or injured! Ha! I like that you do it regularly.
DeleteI hate phone calls. Every single time I hear my phone ring, my stomach drops. I just don't like phone calls! At all. Ditto for video calls.
ReplyDeleteTexting? I love it.
When my hubby travels for work he prefers we do some phone/video calls, but I would be 100% happier with just texts. I love being able to respond on my own timeline and just find it so much less awkward than calls. I'm also a big fan of e-mails, too.
That said, sometimes I'll have a back-and-forth text or e-mail exchange which could have been sorted in a fraction of the time with a phone call. Yet, every time my phone rings it feels like a major affront to my independence.
I will make a phone call if I think it will be easier/shorter than back and forth texts or emails, but I kind of think every phone call is sort of an emergency, so I usually will text first something like "I'm going to call you to talk about X" so the person doesn't freak out.
DeleteI guess I don't actually dislike phone calls themselves, but rather making the phone call and initiating contact with someone who may or may not want to talk with me. Ha. It's the uncertainty of the response that gets me!
I'm with Elisabeth- I hate talking on the phone, love texting. Our family texts each other often during the day, even when we're in the house, ha ha. Like if I'm in the living room at night and my daughter is in her room, I"ll text her "What do you want for breakfast tomorrow?" rather than getting up to go ask her. Texting is also a great way for my son to keep in touch while he's away at school. Instead of taking the time to have a phone conversation, he can send us photos (like he'll send a photo of a dinner he's made) or little messages about the weather or whatever. I love it.
ReplyDeleteI like that you regularly connect with your kids through text. It's such a modern way of parenting!
DeleteI also do the text-someone-in-the-house. It feels lazy and "wrong" in some way...but I love it. I hate yelling between levels, too, so sometimes I will break my no-phone-call rule and will call my husband if he's upstairs when I'm down!
DeleteI just can't help but think that you all live in ginormous houses. If I go to the base of the stairs and speak in a normal voice, my husband can hear my upstairs. No yelling involved! Is your house HUGE?
DeleteI loathe talking on the phone. I don't know how my teen self spent hours on the phone, but I guess it was my only way to communicate with people! That said, when we were dating Phil preferred to talk on the phone. His texts are very short - no emojis, no paragraph long texts. If you look at our text history, you'll see longish text from me and his are generally things like ok, sounds good, fine, etc. Early in our marriage I told him that his texts came off kind of short/rude? He said to read them with the kindest, happiest voice possible.
ReplyDeleteI video chat with my parents every Saturday morning and when I am traveling for work, I'll try to do a quick facetime w/ Phil and the boys if it works for my schedule. If I am catching up with a long distance friend, I prefer a video call to talking on the phone because it feels more personal and I like to see their face!
"Read them with the kindest, happiest voice possible" made me laugh and laugh. What if he's actually not happy? What do you do then?!
DeleteI don't have an iphone, so videochat for me is actually probably Zoom and I rarely do videochats for personal reasons. I guess if I traveled more and had kids, I'd have to reconsider that stance.
The texts I get from him when I travel definitely should not be read in the 'kindest, happiest voice" because I know he is limping along. Ha! But I still try not to overinterpret his tone in messages. But it's taken time to understand that we have very very different approaches to texts. He says as little as possible!
DeleteUsually text, but often my husband will phone me if he's driving home (on bluetooth, obv), and he was out of town this weekend so called me a couple of times.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that he makes such good use of bluetooth in the car. Because my husband has an iphone and I have an android, it's really a mess for our car to figure out what's going on with our phones, so we rarely use it!
DeleteText, almost exclusively. Sometimes my husband will call me on his way home and I am always a little startled. WHY are you calling me? Is it an emergency? Because if not, text me. It's kind of funny to remember how averse I was to texting when it first became a thing in the early aughts. I honestly didn't really text until I got my iPhone in 2013, so I am a late adopter. But what I lack in timeliness, I make up for in enthusiasm. It is the best. I hate being on the phone. Give me texting any day.
ReplyDeleteI second all of this. I immediately assume a phone call is BAD NEWS and I was late to texting, but now I text rather than call! We are phone use twins.
DeleteWe text and talk on the phone a million times a day. I LOVE phone calls
ReplyDeleteCrazy! You are definitely in the minority on using the calling aspect of your phone!
DeleteI text my daughter daily, my husband three or four times a week and my son weekly. My daughter and I Facetime about five times a week. I use to have severe phone anxiety, which is a little better now that I generally know who is calling when I'm answering. I call to make appointments and occasionally hands-free when I'm driving. I can text my dad briefly, but mostly for my parents I call. My sister and I are close, but she's a phoner and I'm an emailer, so we have a long phone conversation every few months.
ReplyDeleteMy cousin Jess is a phone talker and I talked with her for about an hour last night. I think she's the only person on the planet I regularly call! Your list seems like a lot of people to keep track of, particularly texting someone daily!
DeleteMy mom and I Facetime MULTIPLE times a day. It's gotten to the point where we rarely text each other, only if it's something funny we saw on Instagram that we want to share. I just love being able to see her face and get to see the doggos when I talk to her! With everyone else, though, it's texting. I never talk on the phone with people anymore!
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely mind blowing to me. Please don't tell my mom that you're in contact with your mom so much! I can't live up to that!
DeleteWe do more texting than anything else. It's so simple!!
ReplyDeleteThis was A Topic in my marriage but I won't get into gory details. Let's just say we disagreed on how to communicate (as in what mechanism) and leave it at that. And now - with my parents - I 1) text in the am to tell them to call me, 2) talk to them in the am, and 3) email them in the pm. I know. They need to know I'm okay, they say. I concede because they are great parents. Oh, and weekly zooms that include my brother, too. Texts with everyone else. Phone calls occasionally and only under great duress. ;) Clearly I have Thoughts. Ha!
ReplyDeleteI usually text and then I have a standing facetime call with my family 3x per week. I also do a lot of Teams Meetings at work. I rarely talk on the phone.
ReplyDelete