Latest news with #phoneetiquette
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Millennials And Zoomers Are Locked In A Battle Over Phone Etiquette, And I NEED To Know Whose Side You're On
Well... it's happening again. One generation is being called out by another, and for once, millennials are not the target. Gen Z is on the hook (that's a phone pun for those of you who haven't used a landline) this time for the way they answer the phone. Over on Twitter (now known as X), Lex (@jorilextera) shared their recent experience with Gen Z's phone etiquette. "i'm a recruiter so i do a TON of phone interviews and something i've noticed about gen z specifically is that a lot of them answer the phone and don't say anything. like i can hear their breathing and the background noise, but they wait for you to say hello first." Related: Yes, you read that right. Some Zoomers are picking up the phone and then just sitting there, breathing, waiting for the caller to address them. Lex clarified that these are scheduled, planned phone calls, so they shouldn't come as a surprise. But the fact that some Zoomers are totally silent when they pick up — well, that did come as a surprise to most millennials. And of course, they weighed in immediately with their thoughts. "WHY TF WOULD YOU NOT ANSWER A PHONE CALL THAT YOU KNOW IS HAPPENING WITH HELLO????????" this person said. "If you answer a call, YOU say hello so the other person knows you answered omfg" Related: "You mean there's an audio version of the Gen Z stare?" "if you know how to have a normal human interaction with another living person, you are in the top 1% of your cohort..." Gen Z clapped back, saying that rampant spam phone calls make them wait to say anything until the caller has identified themselves. "When 90% of the phone calm you get are scam calls and you hear about AI duping your voice to trick your loved ones into scams you become skeptical of everything" Related: "lmao I do this ... although it sounds pretty conspiracy theoryish , i heard once that callers can record your voice, alter it, then try to call your family to scam them pretending to be you..." "Once those spam calls bots hear voice detected it's game over ... But if you're quiet, they hang up after a few seconds." Others felt like this was just a normal rule. "Isn't it a universal law that the person who's doing the calling should be the one to say hello??" "Respectfully if you called me I expect a hello from you first... Idc if it's a scheduled call whoever makes the call should say the first hello." "Why can't you speak first? You literally called?" this person asked. Related: But millennials just weren't having it. "Why would you answer the call just to breathe in the phone like a weirdo and not say anything. If it's a spam call, just hang up." "If someone calls you, you say hello first. I am stunned at how many people sincerely believe the caller should talk first. Pick up the phone and say hello has been the standard forever." "the whole point of the word 'hello' was to have a SPECIFIC greeting to signal that you picked up the phone." And finally, this person tossed out an inspired suggestion: "this why we gotta bring the 'whussaaaaap' commercials back. so these kids learn a major social contract." Now, I've gotta know: what do you think? Is saying "hello" when you answer the phone the proper etiquette? Or is the caller supposed to be the one who introduces themselves first? Let us know in the comments below: Also in Internet Finds: Also in Internet Finds: Also in Internet Finds:
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Your Phone Should Always Be Face Down When It's on the Table: Here's Why
Picture this: You're having lunch with a friend at the neighborhood cafe. They're sitting in front of you, but it feels like they're not even there. Why? Because they're staring at their phone. Everyone has probably had a similar experience, whether they're the one getting phone snubbed or doing the snubbing themselves. I've been guilty of paying more attention to my screen than my companion, and I feel bad about it afterward. There's nothing wrong with replying to an urgent Slack message or pulling up a funny TikTok to share. But I know I probably spend too much time staring at screens, and a lot of that time is unhealthy doomscrolling. These days, when I'm not using my phone, I try to be more deliberate about keeping it out of sight and out of mind. If I do need to keep my phone at hand, I always have it face down. I have a few reasons for making sure my phone screen is turned away. The first one is practical: Because my screen is face down and won't turn on for each notification, I can save a little bit of battery charge. A single notification won't mean the difference between my phone lasting the whole day or dying in the afternoon, but notifications can add up, especially if I've enabled them across all of my apps. If I'm in a lot of group chats, my screen might end up turning on dozens of times throughout the day (and that's on the low side since many teenagers have hundreds of notifications a day). Keeping my phone face down is also a good rule of social etiquette: If I'm hanging out with someone, I keep my screen hidden from view as a subtle way of showing that I won't be distracted by it. I don't want incoming notifications to light up my screen every few seconds, especially if I'm in a bar or other dimly lit setting. I want to keep my eyes on the person I'm talking to. "Eye contact is one of the most powerful forms of human connection. Neuroscience research indicates that when two people make direct eye contact, their brain activity begins to synchronize, supporting more effective communication and increasing empathy. This synchrony can be disrupted when attention shifts to a phone, even briefly," says Michelle Davis, clinical psychologist at Headspace. When I'm with the people I've chosen to spend time with, I want to be fully present with them. A sudden notification will tempt me to glance at, or worse, pick up my phone in the middle of a conversation. I also have a more personal reason for keeping my phone face down, and I suspect that other people have had this same thought: My phone takes up too much space in my life. I mean that quite literally. My phone is bigger than it needs to be. That's been especially true since I upgraded from my iPhone Mini to a "normal-sized" iPhone. Yes, I got a much needed boost in battery life, but I also got a screen with more pixels to lure me into the next news headline or autoplaying Instagram reel. A small smartphone isn't something that really exists anymore. My phone is bigger and better at grabbing my attention. It competes against my friends and family, books and movies, the entire world outside of its 6-inch screen. It often wins. But there's still one small thing I can do to minimize its presence: I can keep the screen turned away from me whenever possible. It can sometimes feel like there's no escaping from my phone. Whether that ever changes, or phones evolve into a new form factor, I can't say. I can't control everything about my phone, but I can control whether the screen stares at me when I'm not staring at it.
