I don’t have a cell phone, just a landline. I used to be a phone person, but I like it less and less the older I get… I like email as I have a learning disability and it gives me more time to think and edit my words to mean what I want… Fewer snafus with writing for me.
I admit to screening my calls with my answering machine…

That’s another thing. I can’t answer a text in my car, it’s illegal. People think you’re ignoring them and er….

E-mail and voicemail are alive and well in the sector within which I work. Considering I and my peers are unavailable for large blocks of time, it’s understandable. We must communicate significant amounts of information in a way that will be accessible to the receiver when they have the time.

Personally, I prefer texting and email. Email, in my personal life and the circles I move in, seems to be the preferred method to transmit information for perusal at the receiver’s leisure.

Nothing beats a good ol’ face to face conversation though.

I have a mom phone, sunny. I don’t even like to touch those smart phones. When I have tried to moderately upgrade (twice now), I wound up returning the phones because I couldn’t hear the person! It can do your laundry for you but you can’t turn the sound up – greeaaaaaaaaat.

Thats so true…lol. My friends phone can change the tv channels, but you cant actually call a person. Pointless… Lol….

for work, I like email – gets the word out fast & leaves a printable record. Voicemail is a pain , because normally all the info has to be written anyway, so why not email? Text is only for close friends & family because it’s easy to shoot a short question or answer to someone when you don’t have to lay groundwork or give a backstory. Voicemail for my peoples is only if I want someone to hear my voice (singing happy birthday or saying ‘I love yoooou’). Maybe they’d like it better if I didn’t leave voicemail

If I had a phone where I could ff past all the bullshit and get to the message but no… or at rather if it can be done, I don’t know how.

I do like having INFO in a voice mail, what I don’t like is to wait through all that to hear you called to chat. If I see a missed call, I know you called to chat. Voice mail means there is INFO or an emergency.

I just see people as busy. Too busy to listen to a bunch of voice mails that say “hi” and what not.

Er…I am sorry if this makes me anti-social. Seriously, I apologize but this was my point: People’s lifestyles are different. I know my friend Ben has been burdened by voice mail for 20 years. He has a MACHINE and just lets it fill up and does not empty it for a month. His friends got the message, yanno? He’s busy. It’s a matter of respect to realize this… I feel.

I get voice mails about court stuff and that I like because I don’t have to talk to the people and I am sure they feel same. It is really just the long-winded, hi, hi, hi, hi, that drives me crazy. I feel bad saying this but the point of this post is people can read this stuff and get a hack on how people feel about this stuff because it IS important.

I send text from my computer. If I have to actually use my (mom) phone it is going to be either Y or N or K from me.

I am not that exciting, I know. However, if you get on the phone will me, it’s a whole different story.

Having said that, people should also understand they don’t need to respond in kind.

As you all know, once I start to write I carry on… and on. But I’m quite happy with a two or three line/word response if that’s what’s natural to you

Twitter, texting, cellphones–they are not for me. Uranus in hard aspect to Mercury. I get overloaded very easily and once I’m out of the house and out in the world, my time is mine.

Me, too. Minus the Uranus aspecting Mercury – I had to cal my sister from the grocery store the other day, but quickly handed it over to my mother, because I felt weird talking in the Spice area at Walmart.

I only text from gmail – and rarely. I prefer emails, maybe IM at times, or the phone or in person, if I know you really well. I miss having people around me, at the other end of the couch, sitting on the deck with me, etc. I was getting annoyed when I was walking around Best Buy, just to see what they had, and almost everything was a smartphone or a case for a phone, or a kindle. I might be talked into a kindle, eventually, but it will never replace books for me. And I want a Wii, but this is getting off-topic. I just remembered the Gemini/trends thread.

Something that REALLY bothers me is when I text someone and all they text back is “k”. K?! I’m a pay-as-you-go person, I don’t have minutes to waste on your “K”!

After I typed that I glanced up and saw the last comment. Ummm haha oh well, I have Mercury in the 7th house in Pisces, if all I see is a “k” in response to me carefully prepared text I think basically no one loves me anymore.

K, means I got the message and will do as you ask. If no response it means I didn’t HEAR the phone.

h, I walk around like that with my camera, or just with my own thoughts… It’s nice to have a phone available for emergencies, but I don’t like to be expected to be available all of the time (not that I have that many people calling me).

Google voice – it brings everything to me! Texts, voicemails, phone calls, whatever. Makes it easy on the other person, and I give out one phone number and one email address.

I am a phone person, but I’m always on the go and not everyone can handle that. I totally respect that, though, and know the folks I need to call when I’m home and it’s quiet.

Also texts rock for quickie notes.

I prefer email to phone, hands down. You have a record of what was said, and time to think and respond. I actually RESENT getting work phone calles, they distract and put me on the spot, rather than putting the ball in my court as to when and what I want to say. Sometimes if I feel great aversion to talking (which is a lot of the time) I let work phone calls go to voice mail. Where I work, you can only see who is calling if they are internal – if not, no, and I hate surprises and sales calls especially push my buttons. Hey if I want your product, service or whatever I’ll contact you. Every sales person that calls my work and wants to “take 15 minutes of my time” & I unfortunately have the bad luck to answer I always say, please email me about what is on offer. That gets rid of 95% of them, and the 5% that do, of course I don’t want what they have. 4 f-ing minutes saved, lol.

Now as to personal stuff. Again, rather have an email, no pressure.

I have a cell phone, got rid of landline as it was only calls I did not want.

Text I think is great though, you avoid having to make a call and TALK (can you tell I hate talking, lol?)

My SO & I actually had a period of wooing via text. Now mostly used for quick communication with him and my son.

It is so obvious by all the varied responses that people do have specific preferences. I’ve found the best way is to be clear with people what works best right up front.

For example, I work at home ‘alone’ so, when people call, it’s jarring. If it’s work related, I ask them to use email whenever possible so that I have a record of requests and can tag them. I love it when folks text first if they feel they need to call me, so that I have the option, if it’s inconvenient to text them a time that would be better.

I’m guilty of the loooong emails because I was a huge pen-pal kid and wrote long letters, so it’s sort of spilled over to emails these days. But, I do try to keep them short if I know it’s their preference.

Wow – most of this is just so foreign to me. No cell phone, no FB, no Twitter. An answering machine, and there’s a message on it maybe once every 5 days. Guess I’m a bit of a dinosaur. But I don’t like the idea of someone being able to get ahold of me 24/7. I’m out of the house, doing other stuff!
Since I work from the computer, people know to e-mail. And I answer right away.
Other than that, I do love to talk on the phone!

I used to be a phone call person, but those days are over for me. Everyone who actually comprehends that I am hard of hearing and don’t do well on the phone either emails me or texts me. There are a few people I can understand fairly well (as in I get 75% of what they say) on the phone. The rest is just gibberish to me.

My main job has a corporate hierarchy, so the district manager communicates mainly by emails. It took her a couple of weeks, but she deals with me in text (if I’m on the road) or email now. Very very helpful.

We have to do conference calls every other Monday. I use Hamilton Web CapTel for that, and after the second one, I sent the DM the transcript. She no longer uses her speaker phone for them, and she mutes everyone on the line until question time at the end.

Another company I do some work with isn’t so good about it. They leave me voice mails, which pisses me off because they talk too damned fast for me to catch any of it. This despite the fact my greeting on VM says flat out that I am hearing impaired and they need to speak slowly and clearly.

I do not answer my phone if I don’t know the number. Period. If I don’t have the number, I probably don’t want to talk to you.

Mutable. I try to pay attention to how the person I’m dealing with communicates. Somebody I know is busy, for example, I try to keep emails to the point. That’s just common courtesy.

I enjoy chatty emails or phone calls from friends. Work, some topics are easier over phone, but for most stuff I prefer in email so I can review it later, think, take my time responding. Some clients are “phone people” and I can work with that, but sometimes follow up with email outlining the details to make sure it’s all clear and recorded.

I get a fair amount of texts, since I get text alerts for work requests and web server issues. So quite comfortable with that.

For some reason, I dislike voicemail though. It kind of creeps me out, to the point that I’ll often just call someone back without listening to their voicemail first if I know them.

Glad to know I’m not the only one who find voice mail tedious. I also find long emails tedious. My idea is that if something takes that much time, it’s better said in person or over the phone.

Text is great for short communications, horrible for having a conversation. Email is great for business and I like being able to respond on my schedule.

I rarely pick up the phone when it rings, I let it go to voice mail. I try to reply via email whenever possible rather than calling the person back.

I LOVE efficiency. If you are not in front of me, my favorite is a text. Mostly it’s jokes or quick info, or dirty stuff if it’s hubs
For longer stuff, email is great for sending. I may or may not answer if you send me one…sorry! I like texting cause I can do it anywhere.

I actually really like FB for keeping in touch. You can like something, write a few words in response to something,easily keep on top of what is going on in people’s lives that you care about. The trick is– you can’t be friends with the whole world. They have to care about what you post and vice versa. So you cannot clog it up with acquaintances. It’s great for short messages too, because no one expects a lot.
I can easily get burdened by communication so I have to keep it as light and fast as possible. My relationships suffer if there is not an easy, portable, efficient way to stay in touch. Mercury-ruled chart, much? Hehe!!
I’ve said I hate the phone and I do. Voicemails do not get listened to. Sorry Mom!! If you want to meet in a swanky bar and have a drink or afternoon tea- I am all yours for hours. But that’s different.