If I'm calling it's an emergency or extremely time sensitive. Otherwise I text. I can understand when you don't want app or even text notifications. But understand and accept the risk that comes with it.

What pisses me right the fuck off is when I call, then call again, then text, then text again, and you, "mr/mrs im so important I can't be bothered by notifications" are somehow offended at me because you missed out on something because you didn't bother properly configuring two calls in a row from a known contact through your deny-by-default filter.

Those people, family or not, can fuck right off.

I don't like telemarketing or spam calls. But I also take responsibility and check if it's actually important. It's nbd to me to hang up on a spam call. And to be honest I have gotten a fair share of legitimate calls from numbers I don't recognize.

TL;DL Answer ya damn phone, you damn well know tiktok and insta still gonna be there 5 seconds from now

Shortly after getting a cell phone, I made a personal policy that most people don't get a free pass to interrupt my life whenever they want (there are a handful of people on the short list, of course). I've had friends and family comment that I'm hard to contact by phone, and I've always pleasantly agreed (and explained politely if they seem interested). Even texts or other messages can wait until I'm at a good place to respond.

For me, having my phone on silent most of the time is a mental health thing. I know people that have their attention diverted every few minutes, and I have no idea how they survive.

I think context makes a difference on whether a call is welcome or not, appropriate or not.

If the email asks me to write out a bunch of info I know off the top of my head, just call me. Don't make me write out something that I can just tell you much faster.

If you're asking something that kicks off a conversation going back and forth like if you need help walking through something, sending emails back and forth is annoying and dumb. Knocking it out in one call is faster and easier than exchanging 15 emails.

On the other hand, if you don't need an answer right away, if you need documents or images or if you need to communicate about something that requires a record of the communication, email is better.

I have been annoyed equally by getting calls and emails when people use them for things when they aren't ideal.

Phone calls also assume the person on the other end wants to be bothered. If you choose to not answer, you're treated like the a-hole and are expected to explain why ("I've been trying to call you. Why haven't you picked up?")

To quote Stephen Fry:

"A telephone is a fantastically rude thing. I mean, it's like going 'speak to me now! Speak to me now! Speak to me now!'. If you went to someone's office and banged on their desk and said, 'I will make a noise until you speak to me' it would be considered unbelievably rude."

Calling is faster