Mark Lacter over at LA Observed had an interesting link to a Wired Article about the death of the phone call. Stealing his pull quote (because I’m too lazy):
This generation doesn’t make phone calls, because everyone is in constant, lightweight contact in so many other ways: texting, chatting, and social-network messaging. And we don’t just have more options than we used to. We have better ones: These new forms of communication have exposed the fact that the voice call is badly designed. It deserves to die. Consider: If I suddenly decide I want to dial you up, I have no way of knowing whether you’re busy, and you have no idea why I’m calling. We have to open Schrödinger’s box every time, having a conversation to figure out whether it’s OK to have a conversation. Plus, voice calls are emotionally high-bandwidth, which is why it’s so weirdly exhausting to be interrupted by one.
I know that I hate to make phone calls these days, and I tend not to like to receive them (they usually interrupt), although scheduled teleconferences are just fine. What’s your attitude? Is the phone call dying?
