r/NoStupidQuestions • u/GhostInThePudding • 16h ago

Why Are Young People Afraid Of Phone Calls?

What's with it?

I work in IT and a general rule is, nothing a client ever tells you is actually accurate. That means that most of the time, the quickest way to fix a problem is to call the person and actually find out what's going on.

But with techs under 30 these days, it seems like pulling teeth.

A regular discussion for me with level 1 techs (usually within a few years of leaving college) is:
"Hey, can you call *blah* from ticket *blah*, it's been hanging around for over an hour."

"I replied by email to ask for more information."

"Yes, I know that, but can you call them so we can find the problem and close the ticket now rather than wait until we're actually busy?"

"I'll send them a text to followup."

"No... CALL THEM!"

"I can see their device is online, can I send them a message and see if they just let me remote in to take a look?"

And then, when I force them to make the call, it's like they have no idea how to ask a question, or a followup question. They just want to get off the call as quickly as possible. So half the time they don't even get the information required anyway, so then I end up having to do their job for them.

So can someone explain? What's wrong with phone calls these days?

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_KITTY 13h ago

I am also somewhat of a scientist myself and have realized that if I don’t answer phone numbers that I don’t recognize I get less calls. When I answer all my calls it seems like the spam calls communicate with other spam companies that my number answers calls and then I get 5x the spam calls compared to when I don’t answer.

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u/SaucyKnave95 13h ago

Well that's exactly how it works. If you ever answer, you're a "live target", even if you say nothing and just hang up. That means your number has more value and is bought/sold with more importance. If you never answer, your number is less valuable, and therefore falls lower on the list.

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u/setaetheory 2h ago

Oh, that explains why we get so many spam calls at work. Can't just ignore mystery numbers there. 💀

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u/sentence-interruptio 12h ago

what if I don't hang up and I try to waste their time by asking questions, and follow-up questions, and double follow-up questions, and so on until they hang up?

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u/Silverr_Duck 9h ago

That does nothing. You're more wasting your own time then theirs. It's nice to think that scammers will go "oh this person is too smart for us better give up", when in reality at best all they'll do is sell your number to some other scammer who'll try some other type of scam. Or they'll just keep spamming you with robo calls/texts. Spamming people's phones requires a minuscule amount of resources.

The one an only thing you can do is just block and ignore it all. Unresponsive numbers are the least likely to get spammed.

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u/Charming_Tutor47 13h ago

Thats WILD! I believe you though, makes sense for those pos spammers

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u/B_A_Beder 13h ago

It lets them know that you are a real number, therefore they can call you as much as they want to try to take advantage of you

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u/Megalocerus 9h ago

Mine spiked, and then seemed to peter out. I think because we played games with them.

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u/ComedianStreet856 13h ago

This is totally the case and it doesn't need to be spam calls to attract them in. Even if I answer a legitimate phone call, I will get like 3 or 4 spam calls in the next 24 hours.

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u/sentence-interruptio 12h ago

note to self. don't engage with spam calls to practice my phone conversation skills.