Who would have thunk that a dnd warrior like myself would see the day that she has officially entered her phone call era?

I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a week this month completely sans screens. No texting, no socials; where I’m allowed to consume physical media only. Going to the library, the cinema, museums, and art galleries. Hopefully I will be able to do that before the month’s end, but if not, it will definitely happen in July.

However, I digress. That is not what this blog post is about (though it had influence on my epiphany). I feel like my frontal lobe just developed. This morning, I made a phone call to a woman I’d been emailing for two weeks. In that five minute conversation, I confirmed details I’d been waiting five days for her to respond to me about, and started the next steps to move it along.

Obviously, my prefrontal cortex did not completely develop because of one conversation, but it’s a phrase I’ve taken to saying when I have eureka moments. There will be an entire post about all of the moments in which my frontal lobe developed at the end of the year.

Anyways, I’ve grown. I’ve changed from being pretty exclusively text-only to phone call leaning. It’s only been 6 hours since this development, so I cannot confidently say that I’m going to be a phone call babe exclusively… yet. Give me a few months to find balance.

I do feel like it’s a natural progression, though. Over the past six months, I’ve progressively become worse and worse with texts (at the despondence of past me), and it’s been stressing me out, because 18 year old me would shake in her boots (or worse: sit in a room full of open mouth chewers) before leaving a text unanswered for two days. Even two hours! Ironic, considering the me of today is quite proud with that response time. With a phone call, the longest I will go to see your missed call is 4:27 PM, because that is when my DND turns off for work. I also love the discretion it gives me to call back whenever I find time in the evening. Or text, if I feel like the phone call would’ve been better received that way. It allows me to get my priorities in order, and not waste time on my phone (because, though it pains me to admit it, it really is the bloody phone. Our elders were right).

There is something so chic to me about taking phone calls. Being a girl that doesn’t really ever go out in shoes that aren’t ballet flats or heels, the idea of trotting around the city of London with my phone to my ear is incredibly appealing to me. What safer place to house your phone in the city that loves to pluck phones out of your hand is there (that isn’t the bottom of your bag) than right next to your ear?? *Please note that I say this as someone who has a phone charm that is always secured around her wrist.* I also specify the ear because the microphone quality on Airpods is embarrassing, and I dislike few things more than having to repeat myself; I thoroughly enjoy people being able to actually hear the words leaving my mouth the first time.

I also find it important to note that when I say phone calls, I’m not inviting everyone in my contacts to talk listlessly with me for hours on end. We can do a quick five minute catch up. It’s all about quality over quantity. My friend told me earlier that she loves a 40 seconder [phone call], primarily in work settings, but I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment generally, too. We do not need to labour the point unnecessarily, I just want to hear your voice. Hear you breathe for a few seconds, feel comfort in the fact that you’re living and breathing. If the conversation turns into an hours-long session, then so be it, but I’m telling the babes now (I am included in the babes) that it is silly and unsustainable to expect every single conversation to do that.

I feel like being the internationally raised girl I am, I’m just getting to a point where I can say I just miss people’s voices. Both people from my school days who are still across the ocean, and people who live in the same country (even city) as me that I don’t see every week. I just want to be connected to my homegirls! I want to giggle!! And that’s corny, but corny is a good thing. I just don’t want to text them, so I’m committing to calling people out of the blue… or (more likely) encouraging them to call me.

Another reason that texting has lost its appeal to me is that as I’ve grown older, I’ve also realised that people love to throw their reading comprehension out of the window when looking at their phones. So, for the sake of my sanity, phone calls also make the most sense. If I’m really giving you attitude, let us both know and hear the attitude in my voice. Don’t be reading between the dots and crosses. Furthermore, I text — and type — the same way that I speak, so if anything, I’m ensuring that whenever I do text someone, they can distinguish between serious words and sarcasm. If you don’t have my number, then we don’t need to be communicating frequently. My response would be quicker at this point if you emailed my business account, and if you don’t have that then… sorrows, sorrows, prayers.

Pick up the phone. Call your friends. Call your associates. Heck, call your relatives (if they aren’t weird)! I know I’m going to.

That’s all.

P.S. Don’t call your acquaintances. Those are hi and bye people only. Okay bye!