I’ve got severe anxiety with talking on the phone. Ironically, I’ve worked in Help Desk for years, yet it’s never gone away. Anyone else who’s dealt with this have any suggestions? I’d prefer to just stop having to talk on the phone as part of my job, but this area is terrible for non-Help Desk or Management work in IT.
Same.. that’s why I never take calls unless it’s urgent and from someone I know
Definitely a product of our times.
You know, I sometimes think that, but even when I was a kid, I was terrified to call my friends to ask them to come over (before we had cell phones or used AIM). I’m sure it’s become more prevalent with our rampant use of textual communication, but I don’t think such anxiety is purely caused by the advent of email and texting.
OK, I can get on board with call anxiety being old as phones, but I remember being excited to answer the phone. Now The phone ringing equals one of two things: gross or are you dying. Gross for people I don’t know because how dare you invade my space, are you dying for people I do know when they ~le gasp~ CALL in the middle of the day for no apparent reason.
Can you separate out what aspects of phone calls cause the anxiety? For me, it comes down to: 1. (When I'm calling someone) Imposition of my needs into the time of the person I'm calling. Even when it's their job, I feel I might be inconveniencing them. For me, it helps to be explicit with myself about how the other person benefits from talking to me. 2. The sense that my voice sounds extra funny on the phone. Listening to recordings of my own voice over the years has reduced this for me. Calling from a quiet area with a good connection also helps. 3. Missing visual cues of what the other person is thinking, and depending just on voice to communicate my meaning. Video calls are great for this, when that is an option. What about you?
I tend to be able to break it down to being a combination of #1 and also a fear of not having all the information I need or otherwise sounding incompetent. It’s interesting, because video calls don’t freak me out as much, but they still do. I think that might be general social anxiety taking up the slack, though. I swear, I’d rather have a job where I’m in a closet, somewhere.
CBD or other anxiety tinctures help keep your heart rate down and keep you calm. Seems to help me for my phone anxiety.
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