So I read a lot of explanations for telephobia (“people can’t see the other person and can’t read visual cues of what they’re thinking”/”people are so used to getting bad news via phone that they’ve created an association”/etc). None of them really fit my situation. 🤔 (I’m more comfortable with messaging/email, so lack of visual cues isn’t a problem, I’ve always heard bad news in person, and now through social media, SMS, etc).

For me, I’ve always hated how it occupies one of your hands, so you’re stuck with doing things one-handedly (though headsets made this better–I don’t have issues with doing things like Slack calls, cuz they’re always with a headset). It always baffled me that people could spend hours talking on the phone, even way back in junior high/high school (when everyone my age was doing just that). 😖 In case you’re wondering, I’m not a talky person, so I just run out of stuff to talk about, and always stumble over my words when I talk.

Weirdly enough, I don’t have issues with making vet appointments over the phone, though I need to write out a rough script of what I need to say. My vet clinic though added an online booking function to their site, so I use that whenever possible.

/rant