Damaramu said:
Half of the time people don't answer the damn phone though.
I hate it when I call someone and they don't answer, then about 10 seconds later I get a text that says "What's up?"
If it was short enough to go in a text then it would have gone in a text, obviously I want to talk to you jackass.
People want to do the laziest thing. Having a phone conversation is more socially and emotionally intimate or taxing than simply shooting off a text. I think a lot of people in our culture (myself included sometimes) like keeping others at arms' length. Especially since you might have a quick question, whereas a phone call requires the disingenuine "what's up/how're you doing/what's new/what ya got planned this weekend/we should really get together" ettiquette at the beginning and end of the call (you can't just burst right into your agenda with someone you haven't talked to for a few weeks or more, nor can you hang up right after). Both of you know it's bullshit but you have to go through the routine, and what could have been a couple text platitudes to get your answer has become a 5- or 10-minute diversion. Like the previous poster talking about his g/f's mom--it's often easier to go this way depending on the person. A phone call to certain people can turn into an hour of trying to get off the phone. I often hear my wife going "Mom, I have to get off the phone...Mom, I gotta go" intermittently for like 20 or 30 minutes of just listening to her mom go on and on, with her mother oblivious to the one-sided nature of their conversations (and by extension, their whole adult relationship). Around 40 minutes to an hour after the call started, her mom goes "I have to go! I have to go!" and hangs up, usually when my wife finally has a chance to be the speaker and not the listener. Yes, she's an emotionally-exhausting person.
Texting, like social media, is another awful trend of depersonalization in our culture that makes us feel like we're maintaining relationships with people when we're doing the opposite. It really needs to stop, but holy shit is it easier.
EDIT: Sorry, that's really off-topic. I guess I should have branched this discussion into the "Are you one of those people with a cell phone in front of their face all day?" thread in General Chat.