Phone phobia?

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I have always had major verbal communication problems, and when I was a child I was deathly afraid of the phone. My mom would get mad at me for not answering the phone or refusing to speak to someone, even if it was my dad! Sometimes I would just let the phone ring and pretend like I didn't hear it or make up excuses for not answering. I am not nearly as phobic as I used to be but I still get shaky and flushed before calling someone if they aren't expecting my call, or if they aren't a close friend. I also screen my calls like crazy. If I don't recognize the number on the caller ID I wait until I hear a message and know who the person is before returning the call.

Can anyone else relate to this?

Check out this thread:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/asperger.htm ... ic&t=24769

I guess I could be called phonophobic, but it's more a fear of the unknown than a fear of phones itself - I had an unfortunate experience when I was younger. When I don't know the person I'm speaking to I come across as sounding uncomfortable. I can speak to family on the phone relatively easy or when I know who the people are on the other side but otherwise it's a struggle. Ringing companies is an impossibility for me. Quite frankly, using the telephone scares me, which contributes to the reasons why I don't own a mobile.

Holy crap... I have never met anyone who can relate to this. Woohoo. Thanks!

I'm afraid of the opposite, not getting phone calls.

I am terrified of phones. I have had to use them a lot in my life; I even worked as a swithboard oerator as a student worker at my university. I was even good at the job especially since the conversation was mostly related to directing phonecall and didn't require much social interaction. But I never got over the fear. I once had a nightmare that I was talking on the phone and a pair of arms came out of the phone and tried to strangle me.

The phone is the devil.

Give me face to face anyday. At least with face to face you don't have time to think about it, you just have to get on with it.

I've been having a problem with the phone, I am really nervous while on the phone.

I am panicing while speaking to one of my managers at work over the phone while I can talk with them just fine in person.

I hate talking on the phone so much. I wish there was a way to make people contact me by email or IM exclusively.

I tend to get worried when I have to make the call, as I get an irriational fear that either I won't know what to say or they won't understand my accent. Once I'm on the phone, I'm usually fine but picking the damn thing up is inevitably preceeded by a significant amount of procrastination.

I don't have any anxiety when I answer the phone though.

I rarely use my cellphone because if I played back my voice on a tape, I would sound all nasally and garbled up. I do not want people making jokes about it.

Good thing there's email!

I have a huge aversion to the phone. If I accidentally have the voicemail not muted I cover my ears when it sounds.

At present there are 4 people I can speak to on the phone-- 2 family members and 2 friends, but I don't speak to them often.

I absolutely hate talking on the phone. It's just so awkward; it's not the phone. I just don't like talking on it.

My conversations are about 3 seconds long.