Why millennials prefer chat over calls and what psychologists think of it

What is the reason for the fear of calls?

According to research, Russians choose correspondence over calls for communication. And this is an international trend. BankMyCell found that 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 the development of technology. Modern man consumes too much information. It is 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.

Any messenger helps a person to reduce mental stress. He acts as a virtual assistant, which stores all the 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 freed up and can be directed to something else.

Alexey Perezhogin psychoanalytic psychotherapist

If you open a million tabs in your browser, your RAM won't be able to handle it. The computer may freeze or close all tabs to try to load them again. The brain is a little more complex. But an unexpected call can become that critical tab over and over again.

If you are distracted in the process of performing an important task, then the "tab" with unfinished work will remain hanging in the "operating system" until you remember about it, concentrate your attention again and continue working. At the same time, your efficiency will drop. And ignoring a message to complete a task is much easier than making a call.

Hovhannes Gasparyan teacher of effective communication and NLP

By the way, love of correspondence is characteristic not only of millennials, but also of the younger generation Z. According to the expert on the development of emotional intelligence and staff motivation, Artyom Stupak, the explanation is simple. Their childhood, adolescence and adolescence were the heyday of technology. And the basic behavioral habits are formed precisely at this age.

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 working - of course, if your work is not related to driving or other activities that require increased concentration. Calls take up a lot 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 in it. For example, you will not convince the customer that 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 are rewriting. 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 hears 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 uncomfortable. However, this applies to both business and personal relationships. And it can harm the latter: the spontaneity of reactions disappears in messages, and emotions replace emoji.

This 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 begins to be afraid to communicate by phone or live.

Artyom Stupak is an expert in the development of emotional intelligence and staff motivation

According to Stupak, when we send emoji, we don't always feel the emotion 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.