NO TIME TO CALL...OR DON'T WANNA
I thought this piece was interesting; I know some of us with Moebius Syndrome get a bit nervous when it comes to making actual telephone calls (including me).  We worry that the person we're calling--especially if we don't know him or her--will not understand us, given that he or she might not be used to how we sound, they won't be used to understanding us.  Turns out, though, we're not alone:

"Phone calls, says 16-year-old Audrey, can be dangerous. Things can get "out of control." Like many teens, and a growing number of adults, she prefers text-messaging, instant messaging, or Facebook as ways to communicate rather than using the phone.
With texting, "you get your main points off; you can really control when you want the conversation to start and end. You say 'Got to go, bye.' "
 Audrey is one of 300 teens, and 150 adults, interviewed by MIT professor Sherry Turkle for her book, "Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other." Audrey’s featured in a chapter appropriately named, "No need to call.”"
"Young people become anxious about such things as 'How will I end a conversation?' and 'What if my friend has had a really hard time and I don't know how to help?' " Turkle said in an interview."In the past, they dealt with such anxieties. Now, texting and messaging provide a way to bypass these anxieties."

It’s not just teens who loathe making a phone call; it’s a growing number of adults who will  "go to great lengths to avoid a telephone conversation," she said. "Adults say that they are so pressed with the amount of messages they have at work that they don't have time for the luxury of  'real time' conversation."

Now of course, this doesn't mean that it's now OK to let your fears conquer you, or to allow yourself never to make another phone call, just because it's hard.  We all can conquer fears like this.  But it is good to know that we are not alone.  Still, we need to try to connect with people, for real...sometimes the phone is best way to do it.


"Begin somewhere; you cannot build a reputation on what you
intend to do." -Liz Smith