What is telephonophobia or phone anxiety? Welcome to the modern day minefield of phone call etiquette

New research by an etiquette expert has shown that the art of phoning people has become ever more about the detail.

The biggest challenge is that preferences vary from person to person - usually depending on age, context and the formality of the call - making it even more difficult to know precisely how to behave over the phone.

This growing list of dos and don’ts potentially explains the phone anxiety that people, particularly teenagers, feel when forced to pick up the phone. According to the study, about80% of Gen Z and Millennials are afraid to make or answer a call and feel safer sending a text message. Also known as telephonophobia, phone anxiety refers to avoiding conversations over the phone.

To help understand proper phone etiquette, below are a few tips from the expert to consider before making that call:

Text before you call:

To make sure people don't reject your call, send a quick message before ringing asking whether they are free for a chat. Or, alternatively, to ask what time would work best for them. This makes the call feel less intrusive. and is even more important when video-calling. Most of us will agree you need to be in a certain mood to answer a FaceTime call (and need to get out of your pyjamas).

Avoid leaving a voicemail:

While older generations may feel a certain fondness for voicemails, it has recently become fairly obvious that voicemails are utterly unnecessary. f you want your message to get through, then a brief text message is the way to go. The issue with voicemails is that they require you to write down information such as phone numbers or an address, which needs much more effort than a simple text message where the information is already written down. Many people don’t even listen to voicemails. However, the etiquette expert mentions just one exception; if the recipient would actually like to hear your voice, for example, when delivering an exciting piece of news to a family member.

Speakerphone is a ‘no’:

To avoid others eavesdropping on your private conversations, don't use the speaker button in public. Instead earphones should be used or, ideally, the call should be delayed till later. This is because earphones only solve half the problem, as people can still hear your side of the call. Importantly, also, avoid any video calls in a public space since strangers can easily see who is on the call, which seems very intrusive and makes me, in particular, feel uncomfortable.

There is no need to answer every call:

An important rule, that many people forget, is that if someone is calling you at an inconvenient time, don’t feel guilty for not answering. If they had proper phone etiquette, they would have texted before - as seen above! To show the caller that you have noted that they called, send a message letting them know that you will get back to them ... eventually.

So, now you’ve heard it from the experts, it’s time to get your phone etiquette up to scratch.