Two employees of a company discuss how they solved a problem the day before.
“If you had answered me, we could have solved the problem over the phone more quickly, like we used to do,” Carlos, 58, tells his partner.
—They have to let me know if they’re going to call me. “I only talk to my mother and my uncle,” says Eneko, 34.
The scene represents how the new generations, the Zeta and the millennium, They are giving up the habit of talking on the phone. A study by the organization Bank My Cell concluded that 75% of the 1,300 respondents, aged 22 to 37, do not answer the phone. Older people still pick up, but only the numbers they have saved because they have already been subjected to telephone scam attempts or feel overwhelmed by advertising, according to those interviewed for this report.
Federico, 60, says that before sending ten messages on WhatsApp, he prefers to make a 20-second call. “I even answer unknown numbers because it might be a call from the postman waiting.” At the other extreme, Amanda, 24, when her cell phone rings and she sees that it is a family member or an acquaintance, she wonders: “Why is he calling me and not talking to me on WhatsApp?” He says he only calls when “it’s very urgent or if it’s a long conversation.” Verónica, a year older, has her cell phone on silent and barely notices when they call her.
“The new generations consider a phone call as a way to discuss really urgent and very relevant topics. They become defensive for fear of not showing enough skill in the conversation, which can lead the younger ones to hesitate, give brief answers or try to end the call quickly,” explains psychologist and president of the Spanish Association of Health Psychology (AEPSIS) Fernando Pena. The younger they are, the more they refuse to talk on the phone. Álex, 17 and a high school student, considers calls invasive. He says that it does not allow him to do other things at the same time, as he can do with WhatsApp, for example.
At 75, Fernando has learned to use WhatsApp. She sends audios to her granddaughters to ask them about their holidays in Morocco. Like many people his age, he prefers voice and in-person interactions, but has had to adapt to changing times. Nine out of ten Spaniards over 64 use WhatsApp, according to market research company eMarketer. In addition, Fernando has no other option to talk remotely, since his landline broke down three years ago and he has not bought another one because he assures that no one looks for him that way anymore.
Amanda, 24, when her mobile phone rings and she sees that it is a family member or an acquaintance, she wonders: “Why is he calling me and not talking to me on WhatsApp?” He says he only calls when “it’s very urgent or if it’s a long conversation.”
At the end of 2021, 24.4% of households no longer had a landline telephone. This percentage rose to 26.7% in 2022 and 30% in 2023, according to a survey by the National Commission for Markets and Competition. A figure that would be much higher if telecommunications companies did not include a line number in their cable and Internet packages. Fernando believes that a landline is a good alternative in case the mobile phone breaks down and needs to be repaired, but today, many operators lend a mobile phone to their customers while theirs is undergoing technical maintenance.
“Older people have grown up with a different learning about how to communicate. For them, verbal communication on the phone is associated with closeness, interest and an emotional connection that cannot be shown in written messages. Such fear does not exist, since you are used to it. Just think of those times when, to call your partner, you had to ask their parents to pass it on to you because you were calling the landline at home,” says psychologist Pena.
At the end of 2021, 24.4% of households no longer had a landline telephone. The percentage rose to 26.7% in 2022 and reached 30% in 2023
Fernando does not avoid calls for fear of interaction or for the feeling of wasting time, but because of some unpleasant experiences he has had with scam attempts: “A little girl called me to tell me that she was paying too much for her electricity bill and that she had to reduce the price to give them a card or personal information,” he recalls.
This type of fraud is called vishing, a method in which the identity of a company, mainly a bank or telephone operator, is impersonated to obtain personal information. It is one of the most common forms of fraud, along with eavesdropping (when computer operators ask consumers to download software) and missed calls, which, when returned, represent an additional charge on the telephone bill.
Gonzalo, Fernando’s younger brother, was frightened by the many telephone advertisements that made him answer numbers he didn’t know. “Once I called the hair transplant specialists in Turkey to find out, and they called me every day for three months to offer multi-day packages with hotel included.” Commercial calls are an authorized practice to sell promotions, regulated by the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users, which establishes that this type of contact cannot be made outside the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. of the week.
Fernando (75 years old) does not avoid calls because of fear of interaction or the feeling of wasting time, but because of some unpleasant experiences he has had with attempted scams.
But despite all these obstacles, experts believe that the most effective form of communication remains voice. Conversing in writing allows for greater control over responses after thinking about what you want to say, but a lot of information is lost and texts can even be misinterpreted, depending on the emotions of the interlocutors.
“Less frequent voice communication is compounded by less frequent in-person communication. This leads to a growing fear and a sense of inability to communicate effectively in person. The fear we have all felt at some point when speaking in public or giving a presentation in class now extends to interactions as simple as shopping in a store,” Pena concludes.
