When is it okay to talk on the phone? by Q. Reyes – Artistic Warfare #96

March 14, 2011 Q. Reyes 1 Comment

It’s an honest to goodness question that I need answered. I have no idea when it’s okay to talk to someone on the phone! Before texting and email existed I had a pretty good gauge on when was the proper time to call, both in business and in personal relationships.

So I’m back from Puerto Rico, and a lot has happened in my life since my trip a few weeks ago – too much to dish out in one article. So I’ll get started with the title question, “When is it okay to talk on the phone?”

In business, email is the prevalent force in communications, at least in my world. I’m not sure if this is the norm for most businesses, and this uncertainty bothers me. Not only because I hate being uncertain (don’t we all), but mostly because maybe I could be more productive if I picked up the phone a dialed more times than I use the “send” button on my email message. That’s just a thought.

Secondly, in my personal life it’s a bit of the same. Of course I know when to call my mother, which I do pretty much everyday. Yet, I seem to communicate with my sister through text and not by phone as much. I think we’re both busy, so this is a good way to stay in touch without taking up too much time from her, and it’s a mutual understanding between my sister and I. I’m good so far.

Where my issue begins is in the romantic aspect of things. So let’s say I meet a nice girl, get her Facebook, sometimes her phone number too. We message each other a few times, a few texts, but I’m not sure when phone contact comes into play.

If I ever meet up with this girl in the future, it’s all planned through texts or emails– everything from checking her schedule to setting up a time and place to meet is done without verbal communication. So from text we go to a face-to-face with nothing in between (that just sounded dirty). I hope I’m making myself clear.

Now I’m trying to be a better man – a more communicative man. So when do I make the phone call? I’m not the bothering-overbearing kind of guy that will call a girl every hour on the hour. That’s just not me. Still somehow I feel I’m on the other extreme. I’m on the side of communicating only through some sort of technological way.

I feel like I’m lacking and missing late-night phone conversations that go on for hours talking about absolutely nothing, yet so entertained by each other’s voice, that nothing else really matters. Or maybe that doesn’t exist anymore and it only happened in the high-school days? Maybe I don’t have any idea what being romantic is like anymore?

I’m not sure if anyone even has the answers, but I am sure that I will listen.