Phone Anxiety

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I pretty much only use my phone for texting. I hate talking on the phone. I get all anxious. If I really have to make a call I need to write down everything I want to say but if that for some reason changes during the phone call or if someone asks me something I'm not prepared for, I get all confused. Also, I never really know when it's my turn to speak so I keep either interrupting people or waiting too long before I speak. It's really annoying.

I developed a phone phobia, when I did a summer job, when I was a student. The office was fairly noisy, with a high ceiling and a sort of echo. Whenever I picked up the phone, I couldn't understand a word the other person was saying. I thought I might have a hearing problem (my hearing is fine) or there was something wrong with the phone, although it was every phone in the place. Anyway, it's my inability to cut out the background noise that's the problem. So, I started to get anxious when the phone rang. I took this anxiety on to my permanent job and it really impacted on my performance. I hate not being able to see the person I'm talking to. I'd much rather go to the person and speak to them or send them an e-mail. The only people I ever phone are my parents. I phone them every weekday and that's fine. The house is quiet and I can concentrate on what they're saying pretty easily.

Same here. Email and forums are the best.

I have a lot of anxiety about phone calls. If it's someone I'm familiar with and I'm expecting the call, it's better, but I still hate phone calls - pretty much any phone calls. I love texting though, and email, forums, instant messaging (not as much as the others, due to it being live) etc.

Thanks everyone.

I also wish that it were common to say "over" after you're done talking.


I discovered that hard alcohol is the best way to return phone calls.

I don't like to talk on the phone at all. It's worse with cellphones than it was with landline phones - I'm thinking because of auditory issues. The other thing about phones is something like looking people in the eye. I stammer and trip over words like nobody's business. I prefer let my phone pick up and do call backs after I've written down bullet points. I rarely answer a call when it rings with the exception of one or two people.

This happens to me a lot. Whenever I need to call someone, sometimes I just stare at my cell phone, then slowly dial whatever number I need to call, then go back to staring at the phone. Then I go into either one of two options: After staring for about five minutes, I finally get the guts to push "Call", or I just go back to my home screen and try again later.

may day, may day
check roger call
OVER.

I have to admit i am not very comfortable having a conversation on the phone in fact most of the time i have to go to my room and shut the door so that there is no disturbances.

Having to call someone I don't know, it helps me to write down what I'm going to say beforehand and try to learn that script by heart. Answering machines are ideal for that purpose.

Having to call people is almost impossible for me, even if I know and/or like them. I always panic. Go through all possible and impossible situations/outcomes etc. in my mind, spending hours just sitting in front of the phone, not daring to even touch it because it might "bite me".

Good to know I'm not alone with that issue...

That's me--especially if I'm dealing with something complicated like straightening out a mistake on a bill or something.
I got a phone phobia from working in a newsroom as an intern in college. Nearly every time I answered it was something weird, like a man who was drunk saying he'd seen a UFO or a hostile gun-nut complaining about the liberal media or a pervert wanting to pant at the weather-lady or an angry citizen complaining that we didn't cover his event.
On the phone, people can't see you so they think they can get away with saying the most awful things.

I too have some form of phone anxiety. But when I got promoted to manager in a restaurant some years back, it suddenly got easier for me. Because I answered the phone as a representative of the restaurant and not as myself.

Later I moved onto doing computer support over the phone, that was way more tricky. I think I have an issue with phones because while I might not be very good at reading body language, I still read some facial expressions and when I'm speaking on the phone I don't get those, instead I have to rely on small changes in speech/pitch which I'm horrible at.

Talking on the phone with customers for years, have helped make it easier for me to talk on the phone. But I still have issues and in fact my phone conversations rarely last more than a minute. Expect when I'm talking to my mom, then they usually last for 15 minutes. But I only talk for 30 seconds and she handles the remaining 14 m 30 s.

I always prefer texting. I find it much easier and less stressful. Also a smiley face is easier to understand than a certain type of voice pitch. Which may in fact be one of the reasons why I prefer texting. Also with texting you don't get the same sense of urgency. If I receive a text I can chose to read it now or hours later. With a phone call it's always drop everything you're doing, I find that very intrusive and disturbing.

EDIT: And answering machines are spawn of satan. They trip me up every time, I end up sounding like a casette player with a broken motor. I've taken to hanging up when I hit an answering machine.

Also I find it ironic that most normally people cannot accept weird speech patterns in people with AS. But they have no issues with something that speaks like this

Gosh.. I'd never be able to do THAT...



You're quite right in that. However, my experience is that texts can be just as intrusive - depending on the person sending them. There are some people who get really impatient if you do not react "now" but only hours later.



It's the opposite with me: I do prefer calling people at times when they most probably have their AM on the phone instead of answering themselves. With AMs I find it really easy to just read aloud my script without having the orther party interrupting me. I don't mind if I actually sound like this:



Should not be the case. Otherwise, I think someone might as well have told me.

Telephones are evil My husband calls me every day on his way home from work, and it drives me up the wall. I don't have the heart to tell him to knock it off, because I appreciate the sentiment.

When my mom informed me that since I'm 18 the psychiatrist requires me to make the phone call to set up an appointment, I started sobbing. So... Yeah, I have anxiety about phone calls. I've been putting off calling the doctor's office about my back for two weeks.

Don't they have a website where you can send them an email? - Most doctors in Denmark has that service these days - And we are quite a bit behind the curve on technical matters.