Digitized Thoughts

Over the weekend, Alexia Tsotsis penned an article for TechCrunch saying the phone call is dead, outpaced in irrelevance and annoyance only by the hand-written letter. She brings up some very valid points such as Neilsen data indicating that those under the age of 54 are using their phones for actual voice calls less and less. Another point is the increased use of Skype:

Sorry telecom industry, we are increasingly provided with reasons to not use your voice services. While still not exactly mainstream, we now have access to a plethora of free, internet-based calling options like Google Voice.When I’m interviewing startups and ask to “get on a call” they usually direct me to their Skype usernames.

I’d point out, first, in that quote the phrase “not exactly mainstream yet”, but I digress. Skype is a fantastic tool, one which I would use more if my dumb computer’s built-in microphone hadn’t gone on the fritz. Can it replace the phone call? Maybe, though citing Skype as a reason the phone call is dead is premature at best. A quick Google search tells me Skype has in the neighborhood of 340 million users, which is sure to continue growing. Compare that though, with the estimated number of people with a phone number. I don’t know what that number is, but I’m willing to bet it’s close to the total number of Americans counted in the 2010 census. In other words, many more people have a phone number they can be reached at as opposed to owning a Skype username.

Text based communication is certainly a huge part of communication with the rise of social media, smart phones, the Internet, etc. However, to declare direct, person to person communication via voice “dead” is, frankly, a bait for page views and rebuttal articles such as this one. Yep. I fell for the trap.

Tsotsis claims she’d rather have family members speak to her via Twitter, calling their phone calls “annoying”. I can only speak from my experience, but in my early 20′s, I too found the weekly phone calls from my parents somewhat annoying. I didn’t have anything new that had developed in the last week…why the need to call? Let’s just email if we need to exchange info! I realize I’m about to sound like I’m 90, but phone calls are personal. A phone call requires much more finesse and interpersonal skills than shooting off an email; or a text message; or a tweet; or a blog post.

I genuinely fear if Ms. Tsotsis’ prediction comes true, we as  humans will become nothing more than drones, each staring at our own glowing box, incapable of actually SPEAKING to one another. She claims that because most 22-year olds communicate without the need for phone calls, this is what the world will do moving forward. Somehow, I find that very difficult to believe. Especially if those 22-year olds get married and have 22-year olds of their own someday. Those phone calls might start to seem less annoying and more a symbol of love and caring by those you can always count on.

Granted, I am quite biased as I spoke to my mother for 30 minutes on the phone yesterday afternoon. Arguably 30 of the best minutes of my weekend. The thing to take away from my little rant here is this: just because you view something as obsolete, doesn’t mean it IS obsolete. Step outside your own views and look at the world a whole.