This smartly-written article from The New York Times titled Don’t Call Me, I Won’t Call You came to my attention a few days ago on twitter. It made so much sense that I realized, I don’t call people anymore either.

I remember back in middle school when I used to sprint to the phone the moment it rang because I KNEW it was for me. Now, even if I were the only one left at home I wouldn’t bother picking up the phone at all, or take ages to reach it. My mobile is used for BBM, Twitter, emails, IM and Facebook most of the time. 80% of my prepaid top-up is used to activate my BIS and only 20% (sometimes even less) is used for extra credit or in case of emergency. Sometimes when my phone rings I don’t even bother to pick it up unless told beforehand that I was gonna get that call. I guess the reason why I knew I wasn’t gonna last in my previous job because it involved calling a lot of people (I worked in a recruitment firm), and I was kind of fed up with it at one point. It’s not that I’m not social, the purpose of phone calls have just been less significant. Most of my calls come from family and it’s usually just to confirm something or to tell me why I don’t reply to BBMs or messages or to confirm whether those messages have reached me or not. Given the chance of course I would love to work in a recruitment firm again, but I would definitely prefer meeting people face to face rather than spending time on the phone with them.

This visual example is my call log. I took a screenshot just 10 minutes ago and my last call was 2 days ago. Four of who are family and one which is my best friend. Sometimes I even ignore my phone when somebody calls me and don’t even bother to see who it is. I just silent my phone when ringing, turn it upside down and text/IM/email/BBM them to ask what’s up a few minutes after they call. This particular paragraph in the article totally made sense:

Receiving calls on the cellphone can be a particular annoyance. First, there’s the assumption that you’re carrying the thing at all times. For those in homes with stairs, the cellphone siren can send a person scrambling up and down flights of steps in desperate pursuit. Having the cellphone in hand doesn’t necessarily lessen the burden. After all, someone might actually be using the phone: someone who is in the middle of scrolling through a Facebook photo album. Someone who is playing Cut the Rope. Someone who is in the process of painstakingly touch-tapping an important e-mail.

Even when it comes to friends and family outside of the country calling has become more awkward than Skype in my case. It’s much better to video call than to call per se. Of course, under some circumstances it’s easier to dial the person and call them. When typing becomes tiresome, when you’re in a rush or your message is better communicated by saying it.. for me that’s usually my call to err.. call.

So tell me, how often do you use your phones to call or receive a call? Personal use of course.