Call me old-fashioned, but I always prefer phone calls over texts. They somehow have a different level of connection when it comes to communication. You can actually tell if the person you’re talking to is excited, happy, sad or even bored with what you’re saying. And yet this may be the exact reason why people dislike phone calls these days – the fear of people’s reactions.
There’s something about receiving a phone call that shows me that the person is really making an effort to contact me. Texting is more convenient because you can talk to lots of people at once and it’s something that you can do almost everywhere – and I mean everywhere.
There’s the privacy that comes with a message. But copy-pasting is too easy – the most difficult part is probably changing the name of whoever sent it to you.
But still, the people I call are the people I really care about, because I’m actually making the time (and effort) for them and only them. Whether it’s Eid, Ramadan or just to say hi, I would call rather than text.
And then there are the late-night calls, whether with a friend or otherwise. Not the lovey-dovey ones. No. The ones where deep conversations take place and dark secrets are revealed. Those can never be replaced by texts, and you would never want them in a text in the first place. Those phone calls are priceless.
I have met a lot of people who seemed like they could move mountains from their strength of character.
But when the Sun goes down and the clock passes midnight, the most vulnerable and not-so-strong aspects of their personalities appear. Their insecurities, weaknesses and flaws all seem to beautifully overflow from their voices. Now that is something.
I think another reason people don’t talk on the phone anymore is because they might not have anything to talk about. Now with Snapchat, Instagram and all the other social-media networks people are sharing their daily lives, some leaving nothing unshared – such as their morning cup of coffee and their lunch every day.
I’m not saying that social media is a bad thing, because it’s not. After all, it has changed the way businesses work and it has opened so many doors for so many hidden talents. But rather than connecting people to bring them closer, it has made people lose the essence of actually spending time together and enjoying each other’s company.
What makes calls so convenient for me is that I’m often misunderstood in messages, because my tone sometimes isn’t understood and people don’t realise that I’m joking. You can read the word “hello” in 15 different tones, and each will give you a different message.
I get into so many disagreements because of this and that’s another reason why I prefer to talk about 99.9 per cent of things over the phone.
I can’t really understand why most other people don’t like phone calls these days. Maybe it’s because they are costly; maybe because they have so little time; maybe because they’re simply inconvenient to them.
For whatever reason, it’s up to them. But if you know me personally and I come to your mind or you see something that reminds you of me, call me.
* As told to Jessica Hill
Muneera Al Hubail is a policewoman from Abu Dhabi who’s also a CrossFitter and blogger.
If you have a good story to tell or an interesting issue to debate, contact Amanda Tomlinson on [email protected].
