The Phone Call Is Dead

The Phone Call Is Dead. This of course isn't true, but as the article points out anything which is isn't stable or growing is in decline. The article makes a statement that the phone call is dead and I can't say that I'm in very much disagreement with the sentiment. I was running a training course the other day and somebody asked how they could get hold of me. I mentioned e-mail, direct messaging on Twitter, Flickr mail, Instant Messenger, the chat box on my website, Facebook chat, text, mobile, and as an afterthought said and of course you could always ring me. The only people I will habitually ring are my father and one of my sisters-in-law who seldom uses the computer. Just about everybody else I will consider texting or using some other form of electronic messaging.

Reading through I've just written I've just realised that in the list of ways in which people could contact me I didn't mention actually writing a letter to me. There is now so far outside my sphere of activity that it never even occurred to me. I remember back to when I was young and the downside of birthday and Christmas was the painful process of having to write those handwritten letters to the relatives kind enough to send me presents. How much easier for the young people of today that they are able to pick up their phone and simply text 'tnx 4 prez!"

What is the effect of this within the library environment, or indeed a general office environment? As more and more of our work is done in formats that don't require the use of a telephone I wonder how long it is going to be before telephones stop appearing on desks? As we make greater use of resources such as Skype the rise of headsets with attached microphones is going to replace the use of the telephone. Indeed, the model I am now using my dictation software the more I am simply putting on a headphone set as soon as I sit down in front of my computer. With the increase of video chat using a web cam I am also able to use the integral audio microphone that comes with it. The course that I gave at CILIP earlier this week on multimedia absolutely required the use of inbuilt microphone and headphone sets.

In order for the effective information professionals to be able to communicate with their user groups they are simply going to have to get used to using these forms of communication. Have you ever had any training on the use of headphones and microphones? Do you even have a phone and microphone set available to you? I'm asking that question because I had an interesting conversation with a colleague recently and she told me that she wanted to be able to listen to Prime Minister's question Time via her computer only to realise that she didn't have any speakers available to her. A technical support department didn't think to quickly nip out and buy her a cheap headphones site, they spend a lot of time installing a speaker system for her which consequently amended although she could listen to the radio program everybody around her also had to listen to it as well.

We know that methods of communication are changing all the time, there is nothing new in that and we can all pay lipservice to the concept. However, it is only when there are physical changes and by that I mean the use of things such as headsets that we do actually realise how much is changing and how quickly those changes are taking place. How often do you actually phone anyone any more? Indeed, there was a conversation which took place on Twitter recently about the extent to which people do not like to use a phone.

Yes, I really do think that the phone call is dead. Get over it and move on.

Comments

[Karen Blakeman]

I have so may call centres and known marketing numbers blocked on my phone, and I now ignore all calls labelled as "International" because of the infuriating number of scammers. And if I am working on a presentation I put the voicemail and phone on silent so that I don't notice that someone is trying to get in touch with me via that rather quaint thing stuck in the corner of the office.

I am out and about a lot anyway running workshops or at a client's office so I usually tell people to use email, Twitter DM, Facebook message, LinkedIn. No point even in ringing my mobile number because if I am training or at a client's my mobile will be on silent!

[Ed Jewell]

Quite! Was rather taken aback this week when my mobile rang. Much prefer text, e-mail or tweet - the written word has a delete option & gives space to think.

[meimaimaggio]

The phone call might be dead if you happen to be sighted, literate, able to use a computer. Unfortunately, not everyone is in this lucky position.

For example, I can only communicate to my parents by telephone or in person because I can't read and write Chinese and they can't read and write very much English. Even if we were literate in the same languages, I think we would want to hear each other's voices once in a while.

And perhaps there are those who actually prefer the intimacy and ease of speech. I find it much more enjoyable to have long conversations on the phone: I can talk faster than I type; I can use a hands-free set and do other things while I talk; I can make sounds, sing, do impressions.

The growth of VOIP just proves that the phone call isn't dead - the carrier of the voice is just different but we still want to talk.