Dear Readers,

When was the last time you picked up your phone to talk to someone? I don’t mean to call your partner to remind them to pick up the milk, or other transactional items, I mean calling someone to talk, to catch up, and to converse rather than text.

I know, texting is easier, and you can say all you need to say in a text, so why bother with a good old-fashioned phone call?

I will give you four reasons.

1. You can’t enjoy the same level of intimacy that you get from hearing your friend laugh at something you said in real-time, not reading it on a screen.

2. Last time I checked, job interviews still require you to answer questions and talk about yourself, so you might as well hone that skill with someone you love and trust.

3. Friendships are born at the moment one of you says to the other, “you too?” I thought it was just me who felt that way. That just doesn’t happen in a text.

4. It feels good to have another person hear your voice and talk to you, especially given all the distance.

I am definitely an outlier on this, because I schedule phone calls a lot, and I think my relationships are the richer for it. There are also the “I love you” (my Mom has dubbed these Stevie Wonder calls) so much better than a text. Definitely a “poor baby” is more effective voice to voice and sometimes the very act of talking something out is cathartic.

Getting right down to it, my favourite way to connect with people is face to face, but for the sake of safety, that isn’t really advisable so, I would love to see a resurgence of the “conversation” as a result of all the social distance. Is it hard? Will it be a little awkward? Probably.

But before you go back to texting, please think about the richness you could bring to your relationship just by picking up the phone and talking.

Think About It.