SOMETIMES I wish phone calls could be banned for many conversations except for some urgent issues and private interactions. Why? Calls have many negatives, which messages and emails don’t have. By messages, we mean SMS or messages sent via different social media platforms like WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Calls are intrusive. Calls can intrude on your meetings or presentations, your studies or your sleep, your personal or religious meditations, and even your marital duties. Sometimes after the call, you can no longer continue with what you were doing. It is worse if the call is from those who call repeatedly even when their call is not picked. They usually don’t care whether the person they are calling is available to take their calls at that time or not. It is not so for messages. If you are in the middle of a presentation and a message comes in, it won’t affect your flow. If you are making a presentation when a call comes in, and you did not remember switching off your phone or putting it on silent, you are momentarily destabilised or embarrassed.
Calls can be distracting in most cases. They demand your full attention. Some calls may last for an hour or two and you can hardly do any other thing while such calls are on, except when they are personal calls that don’t demand serious concentration. Whatever work you have has to be suspended once you are making a call that demands attention to detail. You may even have to take notes while the call lasts.
That is not the case with messages. When messages come in, you are notified by your phone. You can choose to ignore them until you are ready for them. You can also choose to read them and ascertain the level of urgency they demand. Even while in a group meeting or attending a course, you can still respond to a message and supply the information needed by the person who sent it. You don’t have to stop the meeting. Those who are with you may not even know that you are responding to a message, especially if you are seated behind a desk.
The chances of miscommunication are higher with calls. Words can be misinterpreted. Information can be missed or lost. Because most calls are not recorded, there is usually no opportunity to go back to the call to get missed or forgotten information. You may need to ask the caller to repeat certain words and statements for the sake of clarity. On the phone, “fifty” may sound like “sixty,” “cry” may sound like “try,” while “ten” may sound like “den,” unless clarified. But in messaging, clarity is high and chances of misinterpretation are low. One can always go back and reread a message to understand it better or get the necessary details.
Because calls demand attention and concentration, other activities have to be suspended. The time you spent on any call is the time you could have spent completing a task. On the other hand, messages can be sent at your convenience. If the information needs to be long and detailed, WhatsApp messaging or emails can be used. Photos and videos can also be attached. Recorded messages can also be added for clarification.
There are people you will see their call and your heart will skip a bit because you are afraid of the information they may relay. You may even quickly ask them if everybody or everything is fine first before the conversation commences. This is usually the case if you have a relative, like a parent, who is aged or infirm. Once you see the call of your brother or sister who is staying with such a parent, you fear that the worst has happened. It may also be the case if you see the call of your supervisor or the call of the principal or teacher of your child. A million things will race through your mind before you pick the call. But a message saves you such momentary tension or high blood pressure.
Calls can be tiring, especially when they are long, and the caller does not know when to end the call. They can also be frustrating, especially when you are dealing with people you don’t know how to end their calls without hurting them. Messages do not have the same effect. They can be ended easily. People also respond to messages at their own pace and at their convenience.
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Every call we receive comes with radiation. The longer we hold a phone to our ear, the more radiation our body receives, which is not good for our body. It is also not good to subject the ear to long calls. Sometimes the phone gets hot when held by the ear for long. That is why it is usually advised that the phone is alternated from one ear to the other after a few minutes or the phone is put on speaker mode. Messages don’t have the same effect.
In countries where calls are charged per second or per minute, calls can be much more expensive than messages. International calls are even worse. However, the same information can be passed through messages.
In conclusion, messages are good and calls are good too, but calls have more advantages than messages. This does not mean that calls should be totally discontinued. There are still some pieces of information that are better communicated through calls. However, the best approach is to first send a message and ask for the best time to call. For people not personally known to you, it is not wise to start a communication relationship with them via a call. With a message, the information you seek can be sent to you. Even though there are people who don’t respond to their messages and people who respond late to their messages, there are many people who respond to their messages, and promptly too.
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