Work Life Office
Sorry, Wrong Number: Our newfound fear of phones By Jason Walsh
T he company employee of the 2020s is versed in many important forms of communication—texts, email, Teams, Slack and more. But there’s one communique heard less and less at cubicles these days: Phone calls. The ol’ dial-up was once daily de rigueur at the workplace. But various forms of quick or instant digital messaging have replaced “calling” as the outreach of choice, especially among younger workers whose careers didn’t come of age when telephones reigned supreme. While the shift in workplace modus operandi is a boon for writing apps, the trend has also resulted in a generation of employees experiencing high anxiety when faced with phone duties. The phenomenon even has a name—telephonophobia— and to some degree has been around since Alexander Graham Bell first patented the “telegraphy” in 1876. To the telephonophobic, phone calls can seem intrusive, hard to predict and time consuming. Digital messaging, on the other hand, allows one to set the pace of the exchange, provides time for thoughtful response and is peacefully silent. Those in fear of phone conversations worry they’ll sound nervous, uninformed or socially awkward—to both the person on the other end, as well as their nearby coworkers. Unfortunately, the less one uses the phone the more the phobia becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. According to the New York Pos t, the problem is so bad some companies have hired consultants to lead staff-training workshops in how to speak by phone. As far back as 2017, Forbes detailed the litany of reasons why people don’t like to take calls at work: • You don’t always know who it is • There is a short window to answer the call, forcing stress and a quick decision • You don’t know what it’s about • Once you answer, you’re committed to an unanticipated conversation • An imbalance of information—the caller has the advantage of being prepared • Likelihood of a good call is small—you’ve been burned before
• It takes time, but you have no idea how much • It’s real time—unlike digital communication, your responses are immediate and unedited Workplace training expert Mary Jane Copps saw this phenomenon coming back in 2006 when the Blackberry launched everyone talking with their thumbs and she launched The Phone Lady consulting. Business is booming these days, as she can pull in as much as $3,500 a day for a corporate workshop training, advising the telephonophobic to “use your name” on calls and sharing strategies on “how to end a call.” As the Phone Lady explained to the Wall Street Journal recently: “Things that to many of us seem obvious, are no longer obvious.”
Telephonophobia for Dummies
Virtual-receptionist company Smith.ai offers tips on overcoming your fear of phones
• Cognitive behavioral therapy, for extreme cases • Practice makes perfect • Prepare talking points in advance • Pretend your anxiety is actually excitement! • Smile • Breathe and pace yourself • Admit it’s hopeless and hire a virtual receptionist
14 NorthBaybiz
July 2024
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