Why millennials prefer chat over calls and what psychologists think of it
A Life / / January 06, 2021
What is the reason for the fear of calls
According to researchRussians prefer instant messengers to mobile calls, Russians choose correspondence for communication, not calls. And this is an international trend. BankMyCell found outWhy Do Millennials Hate Phone Callsthat 75% of millennials avoid speaking on the phone. Moreover, more than 20% will not even answer relatives, friends, or work calls.
At first glance, this approach seems to be a whim, but this phenomenon has a completely logical explanation. It's all about technology development. Modern man consumes too much information. It's already difficult to deal with it. And a call without warning is always a communication initiated by someone else, and it comes as a surprise. Unwillingness to talk on the phone is an attempt to at least slightly protect yourself from someone else's invasion of personal space.
Alexey Perezhogin, psychoanalytic psychotherapistAny messenger helps a person reduce mental stress. He acts as a virtual assistant who stores all correspondence with many interlocutors at the same time. This allows the person to memorize less, because everything is already stored in the virtual space. The resources of the brain are released and can be directed to something else.
If you open a million tabs in your browser, your RAM won't be able to handle it. The computer can hang or close all tabs to try loading them again. The brain is a little more complex. But an unexpected call can become that critical tab over and over again.
Hovhannes Gasparyan, teacher of effective communication and NLPIf you are distracted while performing an important task, then the "tab" with unfinished work will remain hang in the "operating system" until you remember about it, concentrate your attention again and continue work. At the same time, your efficiency will drop. And ignoring a message to complete a task is much easier than making a call.
By the way, love of correspondence is typical not only for millennials, but also for a younger one. generation Z. According to Artem Stupak, an expert on the development of emotional intelligence and staff motivation, the explanation is simple. Their childhood, adolescence and adolescence had a time of heyday of technology. And the basic behavioral habits are formed precisely at this age.
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Why is correspondence better than conversation
The message does not require an immediate response
The recipient can read the message and decide how urgent it is and whether it is worth interrupting for the sake of it. To understand why they are calling you, you need to answer right now. And even if you find the strength to refuse the interlocutor, it will still take more time.
You can correspond in parallel with the rest of the affairs
It is quite possible to communicate in several chats at the same time and continue to work - of course, if your work is not related to driving or other activities that require increased focus. Calls consume much more attention.
The message is easier to structure
You have time to write clearly and easily, to double-check the data, add links and photos - in general, to convey the information in full. There are, of course, questions that are easier to discuss by voice. But it often happens that a person simply insists on the call, because he cannot formulate his thoughts in the message.
The text can be screened
As soon as the conversation ends, it remains only in the memory of the interlocutors. And the interpretation of both can be peculiar. This is especially critical when discussing business issues. In case of disagreement, a battle of opinions will arise, and the one with the most influence wins. For example, you don't change your mind customerthat he was talking about red, not green. He just "remembers exactly what he said." The message can be saved for conflict situations, re-read for clarification. Finally, it is easy to find information in the text.
Messages do not disturb others
Imagine rush hour on public transport. A significant part of the passengers correspond. But what if they all started talking on the phone? Of course, some people do that, but they are usually hated by everyone. There is also a risk of spreading confidential information during a call. Everyone around you can hear at least your remarks, and even the interlocutor.
Can love for chats hurt
Millennials prefer text because communication becomes more formal and much less likely to feel awkward. However, this applies to both business relationships and personal ones. And it can harm the latter: the spontaneity of reactions disappears in messages, and emotions replace emoji.
Artyom Stupak, expert in the development of emotional intelligence and staff motivationIt develops emotional isolation from other people. Through digital communication, it is impossible to convey the entire palette of experienced emotions and feelings. And the longer a person communicates only in messengers, the more he becomes afraid to communicate by phone or live.
When sending emojis, Stupak says, we don't always experience emotionwhich he expresses. Communication in messengers makes human relationships and feelings more primitive, teaches people to the limited forms of manifestation of their experiences. Therefore, sometimes it is worth consciously choosing a more complex format of communication - a phone call or a personal meeting, so as not to forget how to talk with others.
Alexey Perezhogin warns: by abusing correspondence, a person may no longer perceive communication as a way to obtain an emotional resource. In this case, he begins to treat him only as a means of information exchange. And here the help of a psychologist may already be required.
What do you prefer: calls or messages? Let us know in the comments.
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