Gen Z’s Latest Anxiety Caused by Phones? Telephobia
By Movieguide® Contributor
The days of young people picking up the phone to call their friends is long gone. In fact, a simple telephone call results in massive levels of anxiety for many Gen Zers.
“Telephobia is a fear or anxiety around making and receiving telephone calls,” Liz Baxter, a career advisor at Nottingham College in the United Kingdom, told CNBC.
“They’ve [Gen Z] just simply not had the opportunity for making and receiving telephone calls,” she continued. “It is not the main function of their phones these days, they can do anything on the phone, but we automatically default to texting, voice notes, and anything except actually using a telephone for its original intended purpose, and so people have lost that skill.”
The inability to see the person on the other end and read their facial expressions could be a contributing factor to phone anxiety.
“In real life, we can see if someone has an angry face or confused face, we get those cues,” explained Professor Alison Papadakis, director of Clinical Psychological Studies at Johns Hopkins University. “Whereas on the phone, you may hear deadly silence. If you’re anxious, you may fill in those gaps with negative thoughts. And that can be nerve-racking.”
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But talking on the phone is still important. Baxter explained that several of her students fail the telephone pre-screening portion of job interview processes simply because they are not confident talking over the phone.
“In a class of 25 to 30 students, I would imagine at least three-quarters of them will experience and admit to anxiety about not using the telephone,” she explained.
But she doesn’t blame young people for their lack of skills.
“Nowadays, you call your bank, you will automatically go through an AI assistant,” Baxter described. “If you make a phone call to an organization, it’s some alternated AI system that answers.”
To help young people overcome their fear of a ringing phone, Baxter offers a program, which includes using scripts to practice two-way phone conversations, to help develop their skills. After the seminar, the students are expected to make one phone call per week to help advance their new skill.
“This is an overwhelming area of need for us,” she declared.
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