There’s a joke that’s been going around the internet for a while, concerning phones and how nobody likes to answer them anymore. Or perhaps not a joke so much as an observation, but then there’s always humour to be found in the frank depiction of a trait or habit that we haven’t previously recognised in ourselves. And this one is just so spot-on, at least for me:
Does anyone else do this" Stare at the phone screen in abject horror when it suddenly starts ringing" The caller ID flashes up and my palms start sweating, my heart beats faster – I’ve developed what could possibly be classified as a mild phobia to answering phone calls! Phonecallophobia! And I’ve been trying to work out what it is about people ringing that triggers this reaction – I don’t get the same feeling if I receive a text message, or an email, or if a Whatsapp pings through. Why is it that answering phone calls strikes such fear into me when years ago – certainly in my childhood and up to my late teens – getting a phone call was one of the great joys in life" I remember my Mum talking for hours and hours on the phone – she’d answer it in the little study underneath the stairs so that we wouldn’t interrupt her – the wire would be stretched taut all the way along the hall and underneath the door and we’d hear her chatting away to one sister or another, or to Granny. Phone calls were a brilliant thin...