I prefer to text or email

Oh, thank the Lord! I'm not the only one who doesn't like talking to people (not only friends) on the phone! Like you, I have one friend who I don't mind chatting to, but even then we don't phone each other that often. DH finds it very irritating that I shy away from it so much. Sometimes I don't have a lot of choice; when my son says, after I have had my obligatory conversation with him, "did you want to talk to (d-I-l)?" I can't exactly say "no thanks". I'm much happier with text messaging and email, but in most people's eyes it's no substitute for a phone call.

Email and skype. I love skype.
Depends who really though. I wouldnt dream of skyping my mother.

Well, the number of times I have answered the phone and it has been someone selling things so these days I let the answer phone cut in and take a message. Most of my friends know I prefer emails or texts as I have severe hearing difficulties so communicating this way is a godsend honestly.

You are not alone, I have never been keen on the phone for a chat. Tend to use that for a quick catch up if needs be but much prefer texting or email. Or, sadly out of date now, letter writing.

Me too! It means I can give information when I remember it, and absorb information at a speed I can process, and refer back to it if necessary. It is far better where my sisters are concerned, as they never seem to write down information I give over the phone. Now, I can just re-send an email. I too have just one friend whose calls I enjoy, maybe we are both literally on the same wavelength.

I find I have become far too impatient with letter-writers. I have an aunt who writes me long rambly scrawls, I appreciate the time she has taken but hate the time it takes to decipher her writing. MiL insists on sending whole essays on the back of a postcard. Many postcards, she travels a lot, and manages to cram in a whole 2 weeks' itinerary. We all gave up trying to read them, but when we meet up she interrogates us on their contents!

I have just had a telephone conversation with my friend, who was supposed to be coming to lunch today. DH went to fetch her and she thought it was next week. She has been so ill recently and does not sound any better. I phoned her when he got back. She sounded so upset that she'd let us down (the date she'd actually put on her calendar is not next week, but the week after, so she must have been very confused), and by the time I came off the phone after reassuring her that it mattered not a jot I was almost in tears. That's one I would have preferred to do by text, but sometimes a text won't do. Sorry if this is slightly off thread.

I too dislike phone calls. Texting is good because I feel more in control. If I want to go the loo, or see to the dinner, for instance, I can do that and then send a text reply. Or I can carry on with what I might have been doing, whether it is sewing, photo editing or doing a jigsaw. But with a phone call I have to give myself over completely to the caller.
Does that sound selfish? Well, I suppose it is, but I do find telephone calls a little intrusive. The person making the call has been able to finish up whatever they were doing, wait for their favourite TV programme to finish, make a cuppa, go to the loo, all of that, before ringing. But they could well be interrupting the person they're calling, who might be in the middle of something which now has to be put on hold. Texting and emailing just seems more polite somehow, allowing the other person to continue what they're doing without apology. And, of course, it means that there is a record of anything that you might want to refer to later.

The phone never rings at a convenient time either; you are always dishing up dinner, up to your arms in soap suds washing up or seriously engrossed in a TV programme. By the time you have sorted yourself out the caller has gone anyway. Whereas lovely emails and texts will just wait patiently till you are ready. So considerate!

Thank you, thank you, thank you ! I thought it was just me. I avoid answering the phone at all costs. I feel so much better now.

I prefer e-mail, do not do texting, though I could I suppose, if I put my mind to it. I think and e-mail, or a text is far less intrusive, it will just sit there and wait to the recipient is ready to read it. Can't hear on the phone anyway!

I dislike phone calls I find them intrusive. I don't like phoning friends either, for the same reason. But I do admit to becoming more reclusive in my old age!
Who was it that said you shouldn't start a sentence with but or and? Well, I do it all the time! (And use exclamation marks freely!!!!

The thing that I really hate is 'call waiting'. Someone rings you, interrupting whatever it was that you were doing. You give in, sit down and prepare for a long conversation, hoping to get back to your sewing, cooking, tidying, whatever later on. Then the other person says 'oh sorry, I've got another call coming in. I'll ring you back'. You have no way of knowing how long that call will take, it could be 2 minutes or twenty, so no point in picking up where you'd left off before the call. You hang around, wasting time, 15 minutes passes and you think, Oh what the hell, I might as well turn the oven on, get out the ingredients. Just as you start to weigh the flour, the phone rings. Aaaaggghh! Sorry, but I just think that is so rude - it's a kind of assumption that you have nothing better to do all day then be at the other person's beck and call.

I'm another one who prefers emails and texts and can't manage picking up the telephone much these days. Most of my friends and family are online with one exception so she gets the rare phone call!

I didnt realise I felt the same as other posters,but thinking about it,I prefer text or E mails,for the same reasons,I dont relish passing visitors either unannounced.I have got people that call on a regular basis,discharge their problems then finish the call,it either goes to ansaphone so I can screen,or OH tells them I am in bed in the evening.I hate when he silently passes over the phone without saying who it is,I am like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

Me too. I thought it was just me being weird--again--. I'm ok doing "business" on the phone but not chatting socially. I hate that-always have done. I feel like a chump, somehow.

My mother had a habit of ringing at the moment I got in from work, when all I wanted was a stiff gin nice cup of tea to unwind.

I feel I express myself better in writing and-like a pp said- I feel more in control. It's a sure way of getting yourself heard.

I'm introverted IRL and I find people talk over me or ignore me.

Text/email is the way to go for me, but not Skype. Nooooo way! Hate it.

Im exactly the same. Much prefer to email or text. Hate phoning anyone including family. I always think theyll be busy anyway. I dont mind aquick call to a neighbour /friend to make an arrangement to meet for example, its the long chats I want to avoid. And i really avoid calls to strangers. My husband cant understand my attitude!

I also hate talking on the phone unless it is something important that cant wait . I text or email .
I honestly thought it was me because I am a bit antisocial these days . I prefer my own company interspersed with the odd visitor , when I think back I have always been a bit like this and I don`t think it is a particularly good trait to have . I wish I was a bit more sociable and confident .

I think it's also because you can think carefully about what you put and edit before sending. I tend to mumble , giggle , get lost for words or say the wrong thing!

Yes I'm another, I prefer texting it's so quick, or if I have more to say an email. Friends and I text to arrange to meet up, I prefer to have conversations face to face. There are a couple of people I know who phone and my heart sinks, usually it's in the evening when I just want to be quiet and I know it's going to be a long one, an hour and a half was the last one I had of this nature because I find it very difficult to extricate myself with one particular friend when she is full flow. I feel my responses are like Sybill Fawlty's "oooh yes I know" ad infinitum, I'm not a phone person anymore.

I much prefer texting or e-mailing. It means you don't risk calling at a bad time and also gives you time to think about your message. I can never think what to say if I phone someone up, either that or I gabble on in a desperate sort of way and sound ridiculous.

On the whole I prefer texting to phone calls for all the reasons mentioned. But has anyone else got a friend like mine who will send a text or leave a voice message and then before you can reply turns it off so as not to waste the battery? .

I'm not keen on phone chatting either. I regard phones as instruments for 'conversations of purpose' rather than chatter. And except where a phone conversation is the quickest and easiest, or the only option, then I'd rather email or text, or even write a letter.

Except that it's "in your ear", I suppose I regard phone calls as a bit "in your face", demanding, allowing less time for considered response.

glad I am not the only one ..

I like talking to my friends and sister on the phone ,but not if anyone is in the room listening. I prefer daytime calls as in the evening , as others have said , I'm either cooking dinner, eating dinner , or engrossed in a TV programme.