What is the issue (paranoia?) with giving a phone number to someone?

[ianrauk]

Which is an indication of how much time is wasted in sending trivial emails into cyberspace.

Exactly
I'm not as bad as my colleague. I get 100+ emails a day usually, most of them not even worth opening, even though it is to do with work. And some people do find it odd I reply to an email with an old fashioned phone call rather then an email reply. Almost like it catches them off guard.

 

[marinyork]

Unfortunately people need to move with the times;

100 years ago, when the main method of communication was the letter or the newspaper, then the ability to read was required. You also also needed an address that the postman could find. I'm sure there were many people who never learnt to read and did not have a a recognisable address.

A lot of technologies are adopted by 80 or 90% quite quickly after an initial slow adoption period and the it takes the other 10-20% a long time or they never do. This applies to mobiles, broadband and in some cases electricity, inside toilets, all sorts of things.

Digital exclusion is a big problem and will be in future, just I don't know how you solve it. Marginalised groups are often time rich and cash poor.

 

[Slick]

I do think that a lot of the young team struggle with actually speaking to someone they don't know. I know they grunt a lot but they are far more comfortable ranting on Facebook than speaking to a stranger. I also agree with the social anxiety thing which is very different from the teenage angst. The actual phone number shouldn't be a problem as it's easy to block people you don't want to contact you. Best thing ever to stop those daft sales calls.

 

[Brains]

A lot of technologies are adopted by 80 or 90% quite quickly after an initial slow adoption period and the it takes the other 10-20% a long time or they never do. This applies to mobiles, broadband and in some cases electricity, inside toilets, all sorts of things.

Digital exclusion is a big problem and will be in future, just I don't know how you solve it. Marginalised groups are often time rich and cash poor.

I agree re issues of electricity or outside toilets
(Our house, in a middle class area of inner London, did not get electricity until the early 1960's and next door only installed an inside toilet and bathroom last year!)

I googled "digital exclusion"
Interesting, it affects around 15% of the UK population.
http://heatmap.thetechpartnership.com/

In summary they have identified 4 main kinds of challenge that people face to going online:

• access - the ability to actually go online and connect to the internet
• skills - to be able to use the internet
• motivation - knowing the reasons why using the internet is a good thing
• trust - a fear of crime, or not knowing where to start to go online

Digital inclusion is about overcoming all of these challenges, not just one.

The OP phone number issue would also be covered by some of the above.

 

[Sea of vapours]

...some people do find it odd I reply to an email with an old fashioned phone call rather then an email reply. Almost like it catches them off guard.

Speaking as someone who only uses voice calls as a last resort: yes, it's odd to reply to an email with a phone call, and not especially welcome to people who don't much like phone calls. One of the benefits of email is that it's asynchronous and if the thing to be communicated doesn't require an actual conversation then why use a voice call? I certainly use voice calls a lot for conferencing, but for trivia, why bother? Apart from anything else, making a voice call introduces the possibility of entering into voicemail, which is the most appallingly awful excuse for communication ever invented

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Back in 1988 we had an internal instant message feature at work. It was a bit like Twitter in that the length was limited, but I don't recall the exact limit. One feature was that you could add a date to the "instant" message and it would be not be sent till that date arrived. One week I went on holiday and I set up some messages that would trigger and be sent whilst I was away. It wasn't till the Friday that they twigged I wasn't there and that I had guessed what their replies might be so my next pre planned message made sense. Oh what fun we had.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

As for the phone thing I have a £5.99 PAYG phone and it is the number for that I give out outside those I can trust. If I ever get nuisance calls on it I can just get another cheap SIM card.

 

[cyberknight]

TBH i have pretty much given up on freecycle as most of the people on it are either ebayers etc after stock or you arrange a time and they dont turn up at all , its amazing how many people have relatives who die all of a sudden when they are due to collect .

 

[Deleted member 26715]

you arrange a time and they dont turn up at all ,

That is one of my biggest hates, if you can bother to make arrangements you can also have the decency to say you're not coming, I don't care if you don't want the item what I care about is wasting my time waiting for you to turn up.

 

[MarkF]

Freecycle has some right wacko's using it and running it. I kept getting let down by people not turning up and not giving a phone number, so, on my next advert, giving good stuff away remember, l mentioned this.

I got a curt message from a moderator (probably a global one) telling me off for saying that, and if l did it again they'd close my account.

I sorted it for them, l now use the council dump.

 

[MarkF]

It depends on the person.

A friend of mine opens his texts maybe once or twice a week.
He then complains that he did not know something because he was only told by text.
He also only has a work e-mail address. Therefore is only contactable by e-mail Monday to Friday during working hours
He does not have WhatsApp or FB, therefore is left out of all discussions and banter.
(What Age, 70's ? 80's ?, nope 40's !)

A senior colleague at work was found to have 3,000 unread e-mails in his personal company e-mail folder.
His attitude was if someone wanted something they would call him.

Have his legs fallen off or summat?

 

[Brains]

Have his legs fallen off or summat?

Just a young technophobe, who works for a major office based corporation, who voluntarily is becoming part of the 'digital exclusion' part of society.
He has no TV, no WiFi at home, no PC.

The problem will come in 10-15 years time when you wont be able to even buy a newspaper without digital knowledge

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Just a young technophobe, who works for a major office based corporation, who voluntarily is becoming part of the 'digital exclusion' part of society.
He has no TV, no WiFi at home, no PC.

The problem will come in 10-15 years time when you wont be able to even buy a newspaper without digital knowledge

That will be fine, there will be no Newspapers in 15 years time.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I start most of my communications via What'sApp of FB messenger if I don't know the phone number.
But if someone starts a conversation on whatever platform, I will carry on the conversation likewise.
If the Freecycling conversation was started via email, I would find it normal to carry on communicating via email.
Btw, I'm 56, not autistic or anxious, still I hate speaking on the phone, it rattles me somehow

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I do think that a lot of the young team struggle with actually speaking to someone they don't know. I know they grunt a lot but they are far more comfortable ranting on Facebook than speaking to a stranger. I also agree with the social anxiety thing which is very different from the teenage angst. The actual phone number shouldn't be a problem as it's easy to block people you don't want to contact you. Best thing ever to stop those daft sales calls.

A friend has two offspring, both recent graduates, who hate talking on phones. They won't even answer the home landline.

They use Twitter/Instagram/FB/WhatsApp all the time though.

Nonetheless, they are both more than happy to undergo job interviews via online webcam.