Born and raised between the late 1980s and early 2000s, consuming television shows where children and teenagers like them spent sunny afternoons and rainy evenings glued to the phone talking to friends, today the Millennial and Gen Z generations are experiencing a drastic change: they never answer phone calls, preferring to exchange messages or even voice notes on WhatsApp and Instagram.
The Generation that Prefers Messaging
According to estimates, 1 in 4 young people aged 18 to 34 do not answer phone calls. This statistic is indicative of a broader trend: indeed, Millennials are the generation that experienced the transition from the analog era to the digital era, consequently being the last to remember a world without the Internet, while also being the pioneers who made the internet a fundamental part of daily life. Having spent a significant portion of their existence in a context of extreme accessibility to others, they also remember a time when this was not the norm, and for this reason, they show particular sensitivity to their personal boundaries.
In particular, phone calls are perceived as intrusive because they require an immediate response. In a world where messages, emails, and DMs (private messages on social media) accumulate, you have the option to respond at your own pace. It is no surprise, then, that one of the biggest annoyances for Millennials is calls, as well as work calls that are considered avoidable. The motto, in fact, is that “this could have been an email.”
The Anxious Generation
Yet, upon closer inspection, the Millennial and Gen Z Generations are in constant contact, but what has changed is the mode of communication: in written form, it is possible to participate in the conversation at your own pace, without being caught off guard. Alternatively, there is an apparent paradox: communication can also occur orally, but through voice notes on WhatsApp, often longer than a regular phone call, but preferred by young people because there is no need to listen to them immediately, but rather at a later time at their convenience.
The Millennial Generation and, today, also Gen Z, have been repeatedly defined as the “Anxious Generation” because they have a greater awareness of their mental health compared to previous generations, largely thanks to a climate of greater normalization in expressing their psychological vulnerabilities. In this context, for young people aged 18 to 34, seeing their phone light up announcing a call, even worse if from an unknown number, immediately triggers a reaction of panic and anxiety, imagining an emergency or bad news.
Future Perspectives
However, there is a broader and more rational explanation: the two generations grew up with so many communication methods at their disposal that they gravitate towards those that are less intrusive, because they are well aware of how it feels to be disturbed on various channels. A more accessible alternative, in fact, is to schedule calls, thus giving both parties the opportunity to prepare in advance, as is allowed by written communication, with no room for surprises.
Generations aged 34 to 18 recognize the value of a phone call, but they have assigned it a different meaning than previous ones – as something important and urgent, to be used only in specific contexts. By preferring other communication models, such as instant messaging on WhatsApp or Instagram, or via email, personal and work communications do not experience a slowdown; on the contrary, they seem more active than ever.
However, it should be remembered that to handle sudden situations or those requiring quick responses, unfortunately for Millennials and Gen Z, there is often only one option, and that is to abandon emails, which can require longer response times, and answer the calls.
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