People in the comments claiming it's social anxiety but I have no problem talking to people face to face or in an internet-based voice or video call. But phone calls are just ass. The audio quality sucks, I barely understand what the other person says and I don't get to choose when and where it happens, might be one or both people are in some noisy situation etc and it's just all around so awkward. I also think it's kinda rude. A message is "Hey I want to exchange X information, reply whenever you want", a call is "YOU WILL PAY ATTENTION TO ME RIGHT NOW". It's also incredibly annoying when some official place insists on phone calls only. Fucking brilliant, now I have to take half an hour of my day queueing and/or calling repeatedly to get done what I would have typed out in half a minute as an email. It's even worse if it's them who call you. "You will get a call from us in the next 3 days". Now I have to be on fucking high alert to be available at that exact time or the back and forth missed calls start. Instead of just receiving an email and replying whenever.

Edit: not to even mention that text is permanent and can be referenced later while calls are not

For me it's a few reasons:

1. It demands my attention right here, right now
2. I don't know that it's going to happen, I cannot prepare
3. Usually during the call I'm forced to hold the phone, meaning I can't look stuff up or write stuff down easily
4. I fidn listening way harder than reading, and the quality of calls doesn't help with that

I much prefer text because it give some time to delay answering until it's convenient for me, look up answers to any questions I may have, and because I can re-read and think about stuff.

Calling is like an interrupt forcing me to drop everything there and then and immediately provide an answer, messaging is something I poll every now and then when I'm not overloaded or focused so I can actually take the time to answer.

For me, it's autism.

Because the more serious discussion the more time I want to have to be able to convey myself concisely and prepared. Phone calls can be awkward and reactionary. plus how the fuck have we not yet solved phone audio quality and consistency problems.

Because I take no joy in small talk, waste of time. I type basically as fast or even faster than I talk. I can maintaine multiple conversations at once. And I can answer when I want instead of being locked up with one person that gets its way.

Why though?

What is so hard about getting a call and talking to someone?

Basically, as soon as other reliable methods became widely adopted. No, I don't have any phone call related anxiety or whatever, I'll call someone if I really need to, I would just rather not. I'd much rather get a text that says, "Hey, we're meeting up at 7pm to go out and do, XYZ, do you want to come?" than a phone call that starts with that and turns to "So anyway, did I tell you my mom blah, blah, blah... And I don't know what to say, because I kind of want to go, but it would be a lot blah, blah, blah."

Phone calls with friends and family have a way of spiraling off into tangents when I don't necessarily have the time to entertain them, but don't want to be a dick all the time telling people I don't have time at the moment to listen to them. If there's a self-service section to a company's website or app, I can usually do whatever I need faster than it would take me to get through the automated menus and hold music to call and have them do it. Like my pharmacy, if I want to refill a prescription online, I log in, check a box and hit submit. Done. If I call them, I need to go through three menus to get patched through to the pharmacy, tell them what I want, hold for a moment while they help someone in the store, give them my info and wait for them to look it up, etc.

When I plan to meet up with people, I make plenty of time to talk to them and listen to whatever. When I get what I think is going to be a short phone call that devolves into tangents, I don't necessarily have the time to entertain whether the fact that my friend's cousin had his toe amputated due to gangrene means he should get the spot on his nipple tested for leprosy, or if he should just improve his personal hygiene and see if it washes off in the shower.

If something really is going to be a pain to communicate via text, schedule that conversation and we can have a call to discuss it, but I'm not answering phone calls whenever somebody calls out of the blue unless I'm interviewing for jobs or expecting a call about some sort of emergency.

For the workplace, calls are king. If you're a professional, calling another professional, it's the easiest and fastest way to exchange information back and forth. Long email chains that take several days to reach their conclusion are inefficient. If you need something done, in the work/business arena, just call. Younger generations are entering the workforce for first time and are scared to make or answer calls. It's embarrassing.

Sure, outside of work, keep calls to a bare minimum. Family usually text first to arrange a phone call.

People have no back bone anymore. Oh no, I'm getting telemarketing calls... Just hang up.

Because we don't have those nice thick hard plastic handles to rest on your shoulder

Combination of spam callers being more prevalent and the younger generation has unbelievably high social anxiety as a direct result of them mostly being raised indoors and alone with family.

I'm not saying that the way we older folks grew up was inherently better at all times, but it certainly forced us to converse with strangers and develop those skills.

My little twin brothers and my little sister were actually afraid to call a pizza place and order pizza when they were younger. They still don't really do phone calls aside from work related things or direct family.

Voicemail should be lower on that list, I'd rather take a call than check voicemail any day.