I have always been uncomfortable using the phone. Just ask people who know me well. It is definitely not my strength in communicating. I much prefer text and face-to-face communication. With text, I have an easily retrievable record, and with face-to-face I can read body language and context, and respond appropriately. I suspect it is a control issue. But perhaps also a deficit in the auditory discrimination modality.A second confession: I get very annoyed with phone calls in which others are trying to sell me something or asking me to answer questions in a survey. Major irritation.
Last night for 3 hours, on my 6oth year on this planet, I decided to start to face this fear in a marathon session in which I did to others what I disliked having done to myself. (Definitely a sin of commission and obvious breaking of the golden rule). Because of my strong support for a Presidential candidate, I found myself immersed in an activity in which I was extremely uncomfortable. I was stressed. Heck, I would have been more comfortable doing a major speech naked in a full stadium, which is a scary image for many reasons.
My volunteer job was to take a list of local voters that contained party affiliation and phone numbers . . . and to make calls to take a short survey, discuss issues, encourage involvement and early voting in the local effort.
I made 62 cold calls, and in the end, after getting many answering machines and rejections from people like me who get upset with such calls, I talked with a dozen people (which I was told at the beginning was the norm). As the evening went on, I found myself listening to how other callers in the background were approaching phone skills and then incorporating them into my own script. I started finding ways to be the most effective, what worked and what didn't. Total immersion . . . constructivism at its best. I left exhausted, still uneasy, but with a better understanding of others - both the callers and the called.
As a baby-boomer, maybe it is time to buy that Jitterbug! :)
What is your favorite form of communication? How do you feel about being called to discuss issues?
How Do You Cure Phone Phobia
Phone Phobia
Confessions of a Phone Phobic
Telephone Etiquette Guide
Phone Etiquette
Photo Credit: Eldon Hathaway at the Bryant Pond Phone Company. Eldon owed the last crank phone company in the country (1983) just up the road from where I live . . . and was a great drummer as well! The switchboard was in his home and was staffed by the family. For more info, see here.
Audio Version of "Confessions of a Phone Phobic"
