How do you usually communicate these days? DH is overseas for work at the moment & of course everything happens just before he goes or while he is away so we seem to communicate more often when he's gone than when he's not gone & use the free WeChat app. We know people that have run up some pretty big international roaming fees accidentally with calls so it was recommended by others as the best way to communicate internationally these days. Sometimes we use it while he's here b/c I'm terrible at finding my phone in my bag and even just identifying my own ringtone before it gets sent to voicemail but the message bleep gets my attention!
I'd never heard of WeChat. We normally just use iMessage for everything, although the kids often have their phones on do not disturb, so they aren't as reliable about answering. Texting has definitely gotten to be our default mode lately, with actually talking on the phone reserved for more complicated discussions that would be annoying to type. Sometimes I will even text my kids when we are home and they are in their rooms and I am too tired to walk back there.
The problem with DH's work travel is that the time zones are so off that usually we can't really communicate via phone call. But as for regular communication: text me, for the love of all things holy lol! I don't want to talk on the phone. My mom LOVES it, and she had a standing Sunday afternoon phone call with her mom that lasted at least two hours. Plus she talked to other people throughout the week.) Last year she made a comment about how I never call her ("never" was an exaggeration) and I said "that's because I never want to talk on the phone" ("never" wasn't an exaggeration lol). This wasn't the first time I've said that I prefer text/email to a phone call but I think it's the first time she truly realized I don't want to talk on the phone and, frankly, I won't do it just because she wants me to. (I also explained that as a sahm, my free time is precious. I'm not going to spend it with a phone clamped to my ear.) I thought if she sent me an email, then it would make her edit what she tells me, but she doesn't. I still get long, rambling messages about people I don't know, but now that they're in written form, at least I can read them when I want.
Texting/iMessage for the most part, with most everyone. My older kids communicate either by text or Snapchat. I like Snapchat ok for fun, but when they send me photos, if I don't think to screenshot them right away, I lose them. Like Kim, I even text DH and the youngest when they are on the other side of the house. The only person I ever talk to on the phone is my mom and when I'm working, I call her on my way home so we can talk on the drive and I'm not tied up when I get home. She will text occasionally, but only when she wants to tell me something and knows I'm working or whatever.
DH and I text each other while we're in the house all the time. He's usually downstairs and I'm upstairs, so it's quicker than walking up or down. We've always done this, though. In the days before texting (remember those olden days ) we lived in a 2 big story house and we were never on the same floor when we wanted to talk. We used to email each other. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll never hear from some people other than via text (including some in my family). I'm okay with it - I had to drag DH into texting kicking and screaming. One of his sons only wants to text and I told him that if he wanted to communicate with him that he had to learn how. Now he texts just like everybody else. I have 2 sisters and I talk to one of them about every other day. I talk to my other sister about twice a month, but our conversations are very lengthy when we do talk. I have one elderly lady who I talk to every other week or so. I know our phone calls mean a lot to her so I always take the time to talk as long as she wants to. I rarely "talk" to my brother and never to his wife. She's a commando texter.
We use Whatsapp, it uses wifi, so we can call, video chat or type messages and it has been fabulous to keep in touch with DS1 while he was overseas. I also love sending photos of the cats or the parents to the kids when they're away. An amazing tool to keep in touch. But, I also tell people sorry I missed your call - I don't use my phone for that. It's used to play my game (Township) and as a camera and only as a third option to communicate with people.
I use the phone to make calls. To me a phone call is for something urgent or for something more complicated than one sentence. I dislike texting -- too much work. Texting is for asking something where there is no urgent response needed. For me, it is for 2nd priority things. Email is for 3rd priority and long things. My friends have sent me these long paragraphs of text and I reply "okay". My daughter has been coaching me on that. Now if they had called, I would be chatting and super friendly in response. I haven't changed my communication frequency habits that much. I only call my sisters once or twice a year. I rarely text them. I do chat with them via Facebook posts. Of course, I have to call my mom and dad. Although they will both email or message me via FB. They are in their 80s now and don't have smartphones. The kids and I call (or text) when we are separated in a store or someplace. We often use the Marco and Polo call/response, which is common it seems. We still holler through the house because I don't carry my phone around the house. And @Tree City - Your mom should call and chat with my mom. They could talk for days before they ran out of things to say - but by then a new bird would have flown into the feeder - or a neighbor would have done something. And yes, I have cut my mom off when she started telling me details about someone I did not know -- often someone who one of my younger siblings might have known. She also likes to tell me what she ate for dinner and how she cooked it and how much it costs at the store and how nice the people are at the store and ....
I guess I'm a bad communicator, since I mainly use texts and phone calls to organize meet ups, rather than to have actual conversations. My mom is like that too, where she doesn't like to be on the phone, and she doesn't text at all, so I guess it's a genetic thing! LOL
I talk on the phone with my mom, my sister, and my aunt the most. I will talk to hubby on phone when he's at work, but most often I will text or email him. I mostly text Daniel or Olivia, but if it's a longer conversation that doesn't translate well into text, I'll call, but it's as brief as I can make it. If I'm busy and get a phone call from one of the three people that regularly call me, I will just let it go to voice mail and will call back later.
My phone's least frequent task is as a telephone too. For communicating, I use regular iPhone text messaging the most, plus a little Facebook Messenger. My email is mostly just for collecting discounts from stores I might want to use occasionally. But at least it's only stuff I subscribed to myself -- unlike my snail mailbox!
I use WhatsApp for any photos I want to send, and for text messages with friends and some family ,and on rare occasions to speak with them on it, but it is internet based, and I have only 2 rooms in my house where the connection is good enough so it does not break up .Some family members don't have it installed, so for others we use Skype to video chat, or regular texts. I use to use messenger a lot in the good old days ( like 5 years ago ) but a lot of people seems to only use facebook for chats now , so I miss out on that ( if someone sent me a message through face book I could take me a few months to answer, I never open it, and only had it installed for school) as for the rest if I can, - I text, but if it is something that require more than 2 answers I phone. I hate the constant message bips ,when someone wants to talk , but they text instead, and the "conversation" never ends. Then a phone call is better.
We don't have a land line so I do use my mobile phone for calls as it's my only option. My preferred method is texting though. @Cherylndesigns we have 3 floors - so we are always texting each other in this house too! So funny.
This is a funny thread... I would love to re-read it in about 10 years, LOL. My son lives in China and so he has a Chinese phone carrier... it's iMessage on my end (I unlimited data). I use WeChat for my other far east friends and WhatsApp for my Middle East/India/well, everyone else peeps. I do sometimes catch myself texting LONG messages and get halfway through and just call, LOL. A 2-minute phone conversation is less than taking 10 minutes to type on that little box, hehe (and I call folks when driving... with Bluetooth..as opposed to texting of course). I will say that I'm in LOVE with the Voxer app. I have 2-3 people that I communicate that way with on the daily. SO much easier to talk and you can listen on demand, LOL. I will say that my MOM is the one person I do not call on the phone (or answer) unless I have at least 30 minutes to kill b/c she is a TALKER and there is no such thing as a 2-minute call with her, LOL. I, too, have memories of her standing in the kitchen with the corded phone on the wall talking to people for HOURS. We had really long cords on our phones just for her to have room to roam
I hate speaking on the phone for so many reasons but mostly because you can't really do anything else while you're on the phone but you (I) also feel like it's such a waste to just sit/stand around doing nothing but talking on the phone. I speak to my 82yo grandfather on the phone but he's generally the only person I willingly call. Even though we don't get many calls at work, I am the receptionist so that has put me off even more from talking on the phone. I communicate much better in writing than in person so I speak to all my closest friends via FB Messenger and my mom (even though I do see her at least once a week) via email. I prefer not to text as I'm a much faster typist (and have access to a computer all day at work and my scrapping laptop at night) but my sister & dad almost exclusively text so I can do it when/if I need to.
this really made me laugh - i guess technology does change so fast that 5 yrs ago WERE the good old days! And i am struggling now to think of the time before texting!
So am i like in the minority now? We still have a cordless landline and a corded back-up one for when the battery hasn't recharged on the cordless (that has the answering machine in the base charger part)
i so know what you mean, i wonder why i even call mine a 'phone ' half the time but i can't think of a better name for it! Asking the kids have you seen my 'everything but a phone'? when i run thru the house trying to find it after i left it in the car doesnt seem to sound right!
My most used form of communication is texting. I only call when I need to explain something or when a text would be too long. I also FaceTime with my boys from work when they are home during the summer.